The Warrior
by The Dragon Knight
Summary: Welcome to Avalar, though it's not the land of dreams it seems to be. Darkness and fear empower one person to commit the ultimate crime. Find out how it begins, and how it will end.
1. Chapter 1

**1.**

My name is Cole. I am a freelance knight, a citizen of Warfang, and the last human being alive in this whole world. But that's not the only thing strange about me.

I was born with nine spirit gems in my body – four on each arm and one in my chest. Each has an elemental power – Fire, Earth, Ice, Lightning, Shadow, Fear, Poison and Wind. But the one in my chest is the strangest of them all. It has the power to heal. With these gems, I can create or destroy anything.

This is my story.

Like most stories, this one has a beginning, a middle, and an end. So, I will start with the beginning.

My life started shortly after my parents crossed the portal into this world. At that time, my mother was eight months pregnant and my father was a scientist in their world – the world I never knew. The portal that took them here, to this world, was created by him. It worked by ripping space apart on a single spot.

But the portal collapsed after they got through it, stranding them here and starting the events that led to my end.

When I was born, the gems on my arms were black and my chest gem was red. Now, though, they are all multi-coloured. When I was five, my father told me that the gems had been part of the portal.

At the age of ten, I met a wind dragon. His name was Gust. On that day, one of my gems turned sky blue. From that day onwards I could control the power of wind.

When I turned eleven, Gust brought his friends to my party. There were seven of them, all dragons – Specter the fear dragon, Burst the fire dragon, Shard the ice dragon, Flash the lightning dragon, Shade the dark dragon, Rumbler the earth dragon and Burn the poison dragon. That day we showed off all our powers. Man, what a mess that made.

When I was fifteen, the plague hit. My mom and dad were killed by it, but I, somehow, was immune. I know now that it was because of the gem in my chest. Back then, I had no idea.

Gust, Flash, Rumbler and Specter were the only ones in our group that survived the Plague. With nothing holding us to this place, we left and soon became one of the best mercenary groups in the world. We had no morals, as long as the pay was good. Looking back, I regret a lot of the things we did. More than half of the dragon population had died from the plague. We only made things worse.

At eighteen I met up with a group of shadow dragons. They wanted us to kill a purple dragon named Spyro. A purple dragon – one of the strongest beings in this world. It was risky, but I asked what the pay was. When he pulled up a chest of gold bars, I knew I couldn't refuse. I accepted.

When I told the group, they were stunned. The purple dragon was more powerful than any of us, except perhaps me, but to this day… I don't know, I just don't know.

We found him and attacked him with no warning.

Because of my greed, my only friends are dead and I didn't join them. I slipped in to a coma. Spyro didn't kill me. Maybe he couldn't kill someone like that…defenceless, unable to fight back. I wish I was as pure as that.

He brought me back to the last place I wanted to be: Warfang. Spyro took me to the healer's and told him what had happened. The healer wanted to kill me, after all I'd just attempted to assassinate the mighty purple dragon, but then he realized who I was. You see, the healer was Gust's father. He told Spyro my story and Spyro forgave me.

To this day, I still don't understand why. How could he forgive me after I had attempted to kill him? But he took pity on me and visited me every day for a month, until I woke up on my 19th birthday.

Those were my first eighteen years, but my story is far from finished.


	2. Chapter 2 My Regrets

There is one thing that I regret more than any other. One thing that haunted me from the moment I awoke. My greatest regret.

On the day of my nineteenth birthday, I came out of the coma. The first thing I saw was a black dragoness with a gold band around her neck. It took me about ten seconds before I figured out that this dragoness was Cynder. Cynder, former Terror of the Skies and mate to the mighty purple dragon.

For the first time in a long while, I was afraid for my life. When she saw that my eyes were open, she ran out of the room. This confused me. Then Spyro walked into the room. I remember feeling angry – mistrustful.

"So you're awake?" He asked, considering me.

"Apparently. Where's my team?" That was all I wanted to know. But the answer was not what I wanted to hear.

"Dead," he replied shortly. It was a simple word, but it made my blood run cold.

My memory rushed back like a bullet.

"_Gust, Flash, Specter, Rumbler; this is going to be our greatest test yet. If we pull this off, we will have enough money for whatever we need for the rest of our lives," I promised them. No more mercenary work; no more killing. All we had to do was get rid of this one purple dragon. _

"_Cole, do you really think we can beat him?" Specter was always the sensible one of the group. She was worried, I could tell. But we had to do this. _

"_I don't know, I just don't know," I sighed. I wanted to tell them that it was fine, that we could beat him with our eyes closed. But I wasn't going to lie to them. _

"_Specter, it will be ok," Rumbler told her. He had a not-so-secret crush on Specter. _

"_Yeah, Specter, the only thing to fear is you!" Flash liked to tease Specter. After all, she was a fear dragon, but she was also very cautious. Perhaps the reason she was so cautious was because she could sense everyone else's fear. That would scare me too. I had always thought her power was the most terrifying out of all of us – no pun intended. _

"_Back off, Flash," She snapped. _

"_Both of you, don't start," Gust sighed. That was Gust for you, always the fight stopper. _

"_Everybody, we need to start setting up the ambush," I insisted. _

"_He's right," Gust agreed. _

"_Thanks, Gust," I grinned. And with that we got to work. _

_I took out my knife and began making cuts on my arms to make it look like I had been attacked. Just as we had rehearsed, I went out into the middle of the path and began looking around for Spyro. We'd been watching him around here for days._

_As we expected, the purple dragon appeared. When he saw me, he ran at me. He must have been worried about me, whoever I was. This was just what we wanted. _

_When he was within ten feet of me, I yelled "NOW!" _

_All hell broke loose. Gust unleashed a tornado with Spyro at the centre. Rumbler was throwing boulders at the tornado, tearing up the footpath as he did so. Flash surged a huge lightning bolt at Spyro and hit him square in the chest. Specter nailed him with a wave of fear and he collapsed. I thought we had won. Then I noticed his body glowing red. _

_The last thing I remember was yelling "RUN!" and the screams of my friends as they were burned alive. _

I looked Spyro in the eyes, "Now what? Come to finish what I started?"

"No!" the purple dragon looked pained, "I didn't mean to kill your friends! I… lost control."

I looked away, searching for something else to speak about. I didn't want to talk about my friends. So I asked, "Was that Cynder?"

"Yes," Spyro replied, glancing at the doorway, "She wanted to kill you, you know." "That's what I thought," I muttered. I had seen it in her eyes, "I can't blame her though."

For a moment he only stared at me. Then he bowed his head and whispered, "I'm sorry."

With that, he left me alone. That night, my dreams were of my friends. I woke up in the middle of the night, my gems glowing bright enough to wake me and shroud the room in light. But it was only the gems of wind, lightning, earth and fear that were glowing. I wondered why, until my friends appeared in front of me. I didn't know if they were ghosts or…well, I didn't know what to think.

"_Why_?" they asked together, their voices echoing. I think my heart broke.

That is my greatest regret: that I had not died alongside those I called my friends.


	3. Chapter 3 my final power

The next morning I tried to leave Warfang, but my mind was still in shambles. After my encounter with the ghosts of my friends, I began to remember my past. My past is about as varied as they come.

Four years ago, I met up with this black dragoness named Darkstar. That was one of the worst decisions of my life. I didn't know it then, but her brother was one of the targets we had taken out over the years. Needless to say, she was pissed at us in general and me in particular. I didn't know it at the time, but she had a trap planned for me at the coliseum where she had made the meeting point.

When I showed up, she had twenty to thirty other black dragons with her. She was at the head of the crowd. I knew instantly that something was wrong.

"What's this about, Darkstar?" I asked, prepared for trouble. Her eyes darkened.

"You killed my brother!" She snarled, her eyes flashing with murderous intent, "And now, you're mine!"

I never backed down from a fight, "Bring it on."

Then I noticed the cages above us. My friends were in them. I hesitated, surprised, and Darkstar smirked.

"Resist and they die," she grinned sadistically. Hands trembling, I looked at my friends.

"Kill her," Rumbler growled, always right to the point.

"Do it fast, Cole!" Flash insisted. He was always trying to get me to rush. This time, I knew he was right.

"Cole, she's afraid of you! She can't kill us!" Specter yelled. I hoped she was right.

"Do it, Cole," Gust said. He knew that I could.

If nothing else, the words of my friends gave me strength and confidence.

I charged my body with lightning to speed me up. A cloud of shadows took form around me and I forced the particles in the air to take the shape of a sword. With a roar of bloodlust, I charged into the crowd of black dragons. I was surrounded, but I dealt death blows left and right.

Looking back, I realise they didn't deserve that. I knew over one thousand ways to defeat a dragon without killing it, but I slaughtered them mercilessly.

When I got to the centre, Darkstar was gone. I was amazed considering I was moving at several times the speed of sound. I jumped about thirty feet straight up and ripped open the cages that held my friends. When my friends landed around me, they started to glow. One thought went through my mind – 'OH SHIT!'

There was a flash and the next thing I knew I was being pummelled by boulders in the heart of a tornado. Electricity coursed through my body, sending my muscles into agonising spasms. The worst by far was the wave of Fear that passed over me. All the bad memories in my life passed through my mind – my friends and parents withering and dying before me.

I don't remember passing out, but I must have. When I came to I was being carried by my friends. My arm hurt like hell and was bent at an odd angle. I knew it was broken. I tried to speak, but couldn't. My ribs were probably broken too. When I looked at my friends, I saw they were all hurt pretty bad.

Then the gem in my chest started to glow. It had never done that before. I felt my arm mend and my ribs heal. I was covered in a pink aura that spread to my friends, enveloping us in warm energy. All the bruises and cuts vanished as though they had never been there. I discovered that day how to help the ones I loved the most. That day, I discovered my final power.

_Present Day_

I woke up in the middle of the road leading out of Warfang. It must have been close to midnight. My head was a little clearer and I could remember more and more. My gems started to glow again and my friends appeared once more, just like they had last night. This time they didn't look mad, just sad.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, almost in tears. I wasn't sure what I was apologising for. That they were dead? Or that I was still alive?

"Cole, it's ok, I forgive you. I will always be with you," Specter whispered. My heart jumped as she disappeared like mist into my fear gem.

"Thank you, Specter," I breathed, touching the gem.

I looked at Gust as he spoke, "Cole, I don't blame you for my death. We all did horrible things as mercenaries."

"Gust," I sighed, "my only regret is that I let you die and I did not follow you to the grave."

"Cole, you're forgiven," He flew in to my wind gem, disappearing just as Specter had done. I felt his power flowing through me.

"Rumbler, Flash…" I began, but trailed off at the look in their almost transparent eyes.

"Cole, you're not yet forgiven in our eyes. But you're well on your way."

And with that they disappeared, leaving me alone to think.


	4. Chapter 4 Bonding

**4.**

I spent the next two weeks training myself at the dojo. The dummies were set to max strength and strategy. It would take a comet to take one down, but I was fighting five at a time and winning.

One day, Spyro came in and was watching me fight. I set it to a one-on-one battle with a dummy that was approximately as strong as I was. I was using a sword I had made that had fire and lightning running along its blade. The dummy ran towards me; its speed was impressive, but it wasn't enough. I ducked and stabbed where its heart would be, if it had one. But all I hit was straw. The dummy fell and disappeared in a flash of light.

Spyro approached, "Nice blade. Where'd you get it?"

I shrugged, "I made it from the particles in the air."

"Neat trick," Spyro replied, glancing at me as though there was something else he wanted to say, "Last night, I saw you talking to some dragons I've never seen before. Who were they?"

My face darkened, "My friends. The ones you killed." I added as much venom to that last part as I could without spitting acid.

"I told you, I'm sorry," Spyro looked away, "I lost control."

"I know, I know," I sighed, "I've done the same."

Suddenly Cynder came running into the dojo. She saw me standing over Spyro, a sword engulfed in flames in my hand. I don't know what went through her head, but she hit me so hard that I thought a bomb had gone off beside me. Next thing I knew, Cynder was ripping my chest apart and trying to rip my throat out.

"CYNDER, STOP!" Cynder froze. Thank god for Spyro's intervention. She might have killed me otherwise. I lay on the ground, wincing in pain.

"Spyro, he was going to kill you!" the black dragoness protested, standing between me and him protectively.

"No he wasn't!" Spyro argued, "We were just talking!"

I was glad Cynder believed him.

Later that night, I was still healing the wounds in my chest. Cynder had charged her claws with poison, which meant the scratches in my chest were full of it. It was a long and painful process trying to get the poison out of my system.

A quick fact about me: I can breathe elemental powers, but my body wasn't made to. So I learned instead to focus the power in my palms and fingertips.

The next morning, Spyro came to where I was staying at Gust's old house. When he came in, he froze. All around were pictures of our group. The biggest was at my eighteenth birthday. They had made me take my shirt off so they could see all of my gems.

I was sitting on a chair, staring at Spyro, "Looking for something?"

"I was trying to find you, Cole," he told me.

"Well you found me," I spread my arms, "What do you want?"

His answer was blunt and to the point, "To spar."

"What!" I yelped, "You're kidding me! Cynder will kill me if she sees us!"

"No she won't," Spyro shook his head, "I already told her."

"Oh…" I hesitated for a moment, thinking it over. But who was I to refuse a battle? "Ok, then, let's go!"

When Spyro had said we would spar, I thought he meant fight. Yeah, I was wrong. He had set up the dojo for a competition. I'll admit it; he kicked my ass in the target shooting. Aiming with your hand is much harder than it sounds. But in the shaping round, I won hands down.

I expected Spyro to be cocky, but I was gladly mistaken. He acted like we both won. I wish I could live life like that, but people can't change that much. Cynder, who had just entered the dojo, ran up to Spyro and gave him a big hug.

"Good job, Spyro," she purred.

He blushed, "Thanks, Cynder."

Cynder was giving me a dark look, which wouldn't have been unusual, until I noticed her eyes. They weren't their usual colour. They were jet black. But it was the lack of pupils that scared me.

"Hey, Spyro?" I muttered, tensing for trouble.

"Yeah?" the purple dragon seemed completely oblivious.

"Are Cynder's eyes usually black?" I growled.

"What?"

Then Cynder went berserk. She threw Spyro away with more strength than I knew she had and he slammed through the wall with a resounding crash. With him out of the way, she charged at me. I didn't want to hurt her, even if she wanted to kill me. So I pulled all the iron out of the air and made a suite of armour.

Cynder hit me full force, unintentionally knocking herself out as she struck my iron armour. My suite rung like a bell and nearly blew out my eardrums. I checked Cynder to see if she was all right. Luckily, she was only unconscious. My heart was still beating a million miles an hour.

Spyro staggered towards me, looking a little dazed from his crash through the wall. He glanced at Cynder on the ground and my new armour, looking both shocked and confused.

"I…uh…" I hesitated, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly, "I didn't do it."

"I know," he shook his head and looked Cynder over, "Thanks for not killing her."

"You're welcome," I sighed.

We picked her up together and carried her to the healer. I dismissed my armour to make it easier for me to help carry her. As we walked, I thought about what Spyro had said. He really had thanked me and he meant it. That was the best thing that had happened to me for months. He had forgiven me.


	5. Chapter 5 War, War never changes

**5.**

"Is Cynder ok?" I asked the healer, after we had taken her there from the dojo.

"She's ok," he reassured us, "She just has a concussion."

"What?" I asked, hearing Spyro utter the same word at the same time.

"She has some small bruises on her brain," the healer explained patiently.

"Shit…" Spyro muttered, which was exactly what I was thinking. But the healer didn't seem very worried, which calmed my nerves.

I punched Spyro's side, trying to lighten the mood as I laughed, "Watch your mouth."

The healer looked surprised that I had hit him. Then Cynder woke up. Her emerald eyes fixed on me, glinting dangerously.

"Don't touch him," she growled.

"Cynder," Spyro murmured, "You attacked me, remember? Cole could have killed you, but he only knocked you out."

She stared at me, confused, "Why?"

"My heart might not be in the right place most of the time, but I've lost everything," I told her, feeling a little bitter, "I won't put Spyro through that."

Both Spyro and Cynder were staring at me. It made me feel uncomfortable.

"I'll leave you alone," I told them, turning away, "I'll be at Gust's house."

But when I reached Gust's house, I knew something was wrong even before I entered. When I went inside, I found out what it was. Every picture frame that had previously held pictures of me had been shattered. I found the pictures of me melted to the wall, spelling out a single word.

LEAVE.

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Who had done this? I might have been good fighter, but I couldn't track anything if my life depended on it. Looking at the wall, I saw that it was dark flames that had melted the pictures. Only one dark dragon came to mind – Darkstar. I knew what I had to do.

Leaving Gust's house, I found Spyro and told him that I was leaving. He wanted to come along, but I told him that I had to do this alone. I left Warfang without him, determined to find the dark dragoness known as Darkstar.

The first place I searched was our old hideout. Searching the place, I found that she had been here recently. There was a spot where the safe house was and it was still burning. The rest of our pictures and all of our journals were in there. Ten years of memories – gone. Sadness welled in my heart.

The only thing that had survived was a suite of armour that my father had brought with him through the portal. It was super charged with elemental energy – energy that I could control. The flames burned around it, but were unable to harm it. I put the fires out and reached out a hesitant hand to touch the armour. It was surprisingly cool.

Something compelled me to put the armour and, as I donned it, I felt its elemental energy flow through me. It was incredible – like a hundred spirit gems all at once! There were holes in the gloves for my finger tips and my palm. The helmet had two lights on each side and a reinforced glass porthole in the front so that I could see. The suite should have weighed two or three hundred pounds, but it felt to me as light as a feather. I couldn't explain it.

After this discovery, I found four sets of dragon armour that had also survived the flames. There was a light blue set, a yellow set, a deep red set, and green set. I almost broke down right there. This armour would have saved my friends. If only…

Shaking the thoughts from my head, I picked the armour up and started the long trip back home.

It took almost three weeks to get back to Warfang. Spyro was at the gate and, unsurprisingly, he didn't recognize me.

"Stop!" The purple dragon called challengingly, "Who or what are you? Are you some dark creation of the Dark Army?"

"No, Spyro, it's me!" My voice was muffled by the helmet, but it was my voice.

"Cole, that you?" Spyro asked curiously, his guard faltering.

"Yes, Spyro. Now let me in," I sighed, exasperated.

"Take your helmet off," That wasn't a request – it was an order. I obeyed without argue.

"Wow, Cole," Spyro muttered, looking the armour over now that he knew it really was me, "Ok, come in."

"Thanks," I grimaced. I headed to Gust's house and saw that all of the pictures had been fixed. Confused, I could only stare at them.

"You're welcome," said a voice behind me. I nearly jumped through the roof. Standing behind me was Cynder. I stared from the pictures, to her and back again. Had she fixed them? For me?

"Thank you, Cynder," I turned to give her a hug, but she was gone.

"Thank you," I whispered again, the ghost of a smile lingering on my face.

That night, I fell asleep in my armour.


	6. Chapter 6 reunion

**6.**

When I woke up in the armour, Rumbler and Flash were with me. Unlike last time they didn't look mad. In fact, they looked worried.

"What's wrong?" I mumbled, sitting up and blinking my tiredness away. Their spirits gazed anxiously at me.

"Cole, your soul is dying," Flask murmured.

"What?' I wasn't sure what that meant, but I was certain it was bad.

"Cole, the coma broke something in you. Your memories have been giving you clues to help fix your soul," Rumbler explained.

My memories? I thought back to everything that had happened recently and every one of my memories that had returned to me. Then it hit me.

"I have to kill Darkstar," I said in a whisper. I wasn't afraid of dying, just the opposite – this could be my chance to be free.

"Yes, Cole," Flash said gravely, "She was the only one who ever got the best of all of us."

I wasn't really listening; I just had a brain wave, "Where are Gust and Specter?"

"In your gems," Rumbler replied, "Push the wind and fear gem to see them."

I knew I didn't have much time to fix my soul, but I had to see them. I pressed the gems and felt myself weaken. They appeared in front of me, just as solid looking as me, as though they had never died. I felt a twinge of remorse in my chest.

Specter put on a funny smile, "Good morning, Cole."

I gave them both a bear hug. They were warm, so they couldn't have been ghosts. That confused me.

"How?" I asked.

"Your powers keep us alive, Cole," Gust revealed, to my surprise. I felt something stir within me – hope.

"It's so good to see you all again," I told them.

"Like wise."

I suddenly had an idea, "Hey, could you all do something for me."

"What is it?" They asked together. I grabbed the dragon armour I had found and showed it to them.

"Could you all try these on?"

For the next half-hour we tried to get their armour on, but we had no luck. All the while I felt myself getting weaker and weaker, but I didn't care as long as I was with my friends. There was a knock on the door that made me look up.

"Yeah, who is it?" I called.

A muffled voice answered from behind the door, "It's me, Spyro. Can I come in?"

"Be my guest."

When Spyro came in through the door, he froze. His eyes stared disbelievingly at my four friends and I thought his scales paled considerably.

"What's wrong?" I laughed, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I think I am," Spyro replied in a hushed voice. Gust and Specter grinned at me.

"Well you're not," I replied, waving a hand dismissively, "Can you help us with this armour?"

"Uh…sure," still giving my friends a wary glance, Spyro moved to help us.

The next hour was spent fitting them in the armour. It turned out that, when the last piece was fitted into place, the tail blade activated. Specter's had a razor thin blade on it, Rumbler had a spiked club, and Flash had a half-foot-long iron poll. Gust's was strange, to say the least. His was a spinning blade on the end of his tail. It looked lethal.

I remember saying, "Now we're ready."

I think Spyro was scared of my friends. He kept shooting them anxious glances, like he was worried about something.

"Spyro, relax," I told him gently, "We all forgive you."

He noticeably relaxed at my words and asked, "You're leaving, aren't you?"

"Yes," I hesitated before adding, "Spyro, if I'm not back in one month, I want you to burn this house to the ground."

"Why?" he was shocked.

"So we'll be free," I sighed, "My soul is tied to this house. If I die, I'll come back here. But…all I want is to rest in peace."

My friends noticed that I looked drained. They insisted I put them back in my gems and rest. I did just that. Spyro left not long after that, promising to honour my wishes should I not return.

That night, I had a very weird dream. I was floating in a land where everything was purple – the ground, the stones, the clouds, even the lightning. Then it started raining sheep. I woke up after a few hours of sleep. It was still dark but the sun would be up soon. Deciding now was as good as any time to leave, I had a quick breakfast and set off for the coliseum.

After about three hours of running flat out, I wasn't even tired. It must have been the suite. It amazed me how much strength it gave me. I found one of our better hidden safe houses and stocked up on some emergency supplies – food, a med kit, and a bottle of purified water.

I was just turning to leave when I felt something hit my back, hard. It sent a massive shock into me, robbing me of my senses. I fell to the floor and remembered nothing else as I blacked out.


	7. Chapter 7 My last kill

**7.**

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I couldn't see. It was way too dark. The second thing I noticed was that my head hurt like hell. It was weird, my gems always glowed, so why was it so dark now? A door opened on one of the walls, letting bright light into the darkness around me. I squinted against the painful glare. Prepared to attack whatever it was, even if I couldn't see well, I jumped up and tried to summon fire in my hand. Nothing happened. I tried to make a sword. Again, nothing.

"Having trouble?" asked a mocking voice.

"Maybe…" I growled warily. I couldn't see who it was, but I felt a little of my power return, fuelled by the light and my rage. My body was heating up to about one hundred degrees – my norm. But I still couldn't strike a spark. Instead, I kept my captor talking.

"Who are you?" I snapped, though I feared I already knew.

"Cole, I'm wounded," pined the sultry voice, "You don't remember me?"

I was right. There was no mistaking that voice. It was Darkstar.

"How did you find me?" I demanded, shielding my eyes. As my eyes slowly adjusted, I could vaguely make out the image of a shadowy dragon in front of me.

"You're amazingly easy to track," Darkstar smirked. I bristled.

"You here to kill me?" I growled. I already knew the answer.

"Yes," she said simply, turning her back on me, "Now, come to the arena."

"What?" I stammered, but she was already gone. I figured that my best chance out of here, wherever here was, was through her. I heard a click and suddenly I was in the middle of an arena. I blinked and stared around the arena, surrounded by what looked like a giant circular obsidian wall.

I heard Darkstar's voice boom around the arena, "Now, for the next round, an old friend of mine is here to fight!"

I winced when she called me her friend. Then I noticed what I had thought was a black wall was a seething mass of black dragons. They filled the stands all around the arena. I felt chills run up my spine.

"Now my brothers and sisters," Darkstar shrieked, "ROUND ONE!"

I was instantly nailed by a bolt of white lightning. It sent shockwaves of agony through my body, but at least it charged my gems. I formed my sword out of the particles in the air and charged my armour. Six apes appeared out of nowhere. I let out a roar filled with bloodlust. Maybe it was my imagination, but it made the apes flinch for about a second. I charged them and caught one of them with a horizontal slash of my sword. Its head went rolling.

Suddenly, I felt a club hit my helmet. It rung like a bell, causing me to stagger. I reached out blindly, grabbing the ape's wrist, and squeezed as hard as I could. I heard something shatter and I sent a wave of ice through the ape, freezing it solid. A massive ball of lightning, charged with thousands of volts, formed in my hand and I smashed it into the ground. I could see the remaining four apes light up and saw their skeletons as though through an x-ray machine.

As soon as the last ape fell, Darkstar yelled, "WINNER! Round two!"

"Oh, come on! Fight me yourself!" I yelled at her angrily.

"Is that a challenge?" she snapped back, flaring her wings.

"Yes," I snarled, tightening my grip on my sword.

She turned her gaze to the crowd, "Should I?"

The crowd roared as one, "YES!"

Darkstar paled. Clearly, she hadn't expected that answer. She knew she had just signed her death warrant. But she couldn't lose face in front of the crowd by backing down.

"Well, come on," She growled and jumped into the arena. Her eyes fixed on me and I knew the battle had already started.

Knowing she was a shadow dragon, I made a white hot fireball in my hand and willed it brighter and brighter. If there was anything shadow dragons didn't like, it was excessive amounts of bright light. But the next thing I knew, I was in the air and surrounded by a dark cloud of shadow. I felt her tail club strike me multiple times, creating great dents in my armour and painful bruises in my skin. Her razor sharp claws tore through the metal of my armour, biting into my flesh and drawing blood.

It was agony, but I couldn't do a thing. Then, suddenly, I was released. I fell about twenty feet and landed on my back, where I lay winded for several moments. I was bleeding and bruised, but I could still fight. A shriek sounded above me as something black dropped from the sky towards me. I only had seconds to act.

I swept my sword in an arcing motion, rolling to the side as I did so. It bit through scale and flesh, tearing Darkstar's wings from her body in a spray of blood. It was barbaric, but as far as I was concerned, she deserved it. She landed beside me in a crumpled heap, gasping for air, her eyes wide and filled with agony. Her scales were slick with blood. I'd never seen her look so pathetic.

"Please…" she whimpered, tears rolling from her eyes as blood poured from her severed wings.

I only glared and hissed, "No."

After everything she'd done, it was time I ended this. It was time I ended her. And there was nothing she could do to fight back. I laid my hand on her forehead, staring once more into her pleading, tear-filled gaze, and released my power. Waves of scorching fire engulfed her body, incinerating her on the spot. When the fire died, nothing except a single spirit gem was left of the black dragoness that had once tormented me.

I took the gem as a trophy of my victory.

"ANYONE ELSE!" I yelled at the unusually silent crowd. No one answered. I was finished here.

Super-heating the air around my feet, I floated out of the arena and towards Warfang. But I was exhausted and this had not been a good idea. I was out of energy and was about one hundred and fifty feet above the ground. My strength failed and I fell. I heard a scream before my world went black.


	8. Chapter 8 Revival

**8.**

I woke up feeling like I had been a dragon's chew toy.

"Finally awake?" A voice asked. I shot bolt upright, but that wasn't a good idea. A bolt of pain shot through my head.

"Ow," I groaned, raising a hand to my head. My whole body hurt.

"Cole, stay still, you're very badly hurt,' I recognized the voice as Cynder. I guess the reason I didn't recognize her voice at once, was because she sounded truly worried. I'd never heard her sound worried like that before.

"Cynder?" I mumbled, blinking as my vision returned, "That you?"

"Yes, Cole," she replied gently, "Spyro told me to watch you until he could calm your friends down."

Friends? My mind froze up and I could only exclaim, "What!"

"Your friends," Cynder repeated patiently, as though she was concerned I had lost my mind, "You know, the ones that brought you here?"

"Uh?" I felt dizzy, "Yeah…could you get them?"

"No need, Cole," She said, turning her head towards the door. I looked around her to get a better view.

Four dragons walked into the room, followed by Spyro. My jaw dropped and my eyes went wide. There was no mistaking them. My friends stood before me, looking as alive as ever.

"Gust, Specter, Rumbler, Flash!" I exclaimed, my head spinning, "H-how?"

"Your actions freed us, Cole," Specter replied softly, "When you killed Darkstar, we were brought back to the realm of the living. No longer do we need to rely on your power to survive."

Warmth surrounded my heart and my chest gem glowed brightly. A soothing wave washed over me and I felt much better. Cynder winced when she heard my bones move back into place.

"What's wrong, Cynder?" I grinned, feeling elated to know that my friends were alive, "Never heard bone-snap?" But as soon as I said that, I felt like an ass.

"Yes, I have," She said stiffly before she turned to leave.

"Cynder, don't leave," I begged, feeling guilty, "I didn't mean for it to sound like that."

"Cole, it's ok," she shook her head with a smile, "Now you have some friends to catch up with." She left the room, leaving me alone with my four friends.

"COLE!" As soon as I got up, I was almost pushed back down when they smothered me with a bear hug – all at the same time.

"Guys, you're squishing me!" I protested, grinning. They stepped back laughing and allowed me to get a better look at them. I saw that they didn't have their armour on, which confused me.

"Hey guys, where's your armour?" I asked curiously

Gust hesitated and seemed to think about his answer before he muttered, "With yours."

Something was wrong, I could tell, "Gust, what's wrong with my armour?"

"Cole, I'm sorry…" Specter sighed, her eyes sad.

My heart dropped, "Oh no… Darkstar shredded it didn't she?"

Gust nodded with a sigh, "There was nothing we could do about it."

"Oh man," I held a hand to my head. The loss of my armour had hit me hard, "Damn, how am I going to fix it?"

At that moment, Spyro walked in and looked at me in amazement.

"Cole, you shouldn't be awake, much less walking!" he exclaimed with wide eyes.

An idea struck me as I considered the purple dragon, "Hey, Spyro? Can you help me fix my armour? Your power over flame is much better than mine."

Spyro watched me closely, as though he was afraid I would collapse at any moment. But he agreed easily, "Sure, Cole. When do you want to start?"

"Now," I replied simply. Spyro looked surprised, but I could tell he knew it was no good arguing with me.

I bid a hasty goodbye to my friends, promising I'd see them tomorrow, and we headed to Gust's house. I saw four pairs of dragon armour hanging up. Mine was on the floor. It looked like…well, it looked like a puzzle that needed to be put back together again.

Spyro let out a low whistle, "Man, Cole, what did you do? Get into a fight with Cynder?"

"Not quite," I replied, kneeling down beside my ruined armour, "But it was a female shadow dragon."

"What's her name?" Spyro asked curiously, moving to my side.

"Darkstar. She's dead. I killed her," I replied coldly. Even the memory of her made me feel bitter.

Spyro looked stunned, "You what?"

I looked up at him, "I said I killed her, why?"

Spyro hesitated, "Darkstar…She tried to kill Cynder once."

"Hm," I raised my eyebrows, surprised, "Well, you're welcome…I guess."

"Yeah, I guess," Spyro muttered, staring at the floor, "Cynder will be relieved."

He seemed to be sinking into a stupor, so I quickly broke him out of it, "Ok, Spyro, let's get the armour fixed."

We spent the next six hours reforging the armour. We figured out that whatever metal it was made of it melted at about six thousand degrees. That made it very hard to forge, but we managed it thanks to Spyro's awesome firepower. I added cuffs of soft steel to the wrists of the suit that I could reform at will. Soon, the armour looked as though it had never met Darkstar.

"Thank you, Spyro," I was panting and sweating from the heat.

"You're welcome, Cole," Spyro replied with a tired grin. He was panting too, but unlike me he wasn't sweating. I noticed that his scales were bent out.

"Hey Spyro," I asked curiously, "why are your scales bent out like that?"

"Oh," Spyro twisted his neck to look at the scales on his side, "That's how dragons vent heat, just like you sweat."

"Huh?" I had never heard of such a thing, "Makes sense, I guess."

It was then that we inspected our handy work and found something more than a little unexpected. It had cooled enough to stop glowing and now we could see it for what it really looked like. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped.

"Spyro?" I whispered.

"I see it too," he replied in the same hushed tone of awe.

The whole suit was the same colour as Spyro's scales and had dents where my gems would be.

"Hey, Spyro?" I mumbled, still staring in awe, "We didn't add that, did we?"

"Can't say that we did," Spyro replied with a wry grin.

The armour was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. Then I noticed that, unlike the other suit, it had no place for me to vent my energy. Usually when I use my powers the gem gains a small charge on its surface and, when that charge builds up, it blasts out with incredible force. But this suit wouldn't allow that. I realised then what that meant.

"Spyro, that suit is made to capture the energy on my gems and send it back in!" I exclaimed.

"You mean…that suit recycles your power?" Spyro asked, gaping.

I grinned triumphantly, "Yep."

The purple dragon smiled tiredly, "Cole, this is amazing, but I'm about to pass out. I think I'll head off."

"Me too," I replied, feeling the fatigue set in, "I'll see you tomorrow. And Spyro? Thanks."


	9. Chapter 9 Training

**9.**

One week after Spyro and I had fixed my armour, Cynder approached me.

"Cole," she said, "Spyro has been telling me about your control over the elements, but I've only ever seen you use shadow before. What can you do with the rest?"

"Well," I pondered for a while, "I can do some basic stuff with fear and poison, but I'm a master with wind."

"Would you like me to teach you?" she asked, unexpectedly.

"Huh?" I blinked, surprised, "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Cynder."

With that, she led me to the dojo and set up some targets for me to practice on. I wondered what sort of training she'd make me do.

"Ok, Cole, try to hit a target with a ball of poison," Cynder instructed, gesturing at the wooden targets.

I hesitated, a little embarrassed, "I'm not very good at aiming, though."

"That's ok," she encouraged, "Just try."

So I made a ball of poison in my palm and threw it at the target. However, it came up short and burned a small hole in the floor. I grinned sheepishly at Cynder.

"It had the right composition," she praise, despite my miss, "but you should try to send a stream of poison out of your finger tips instead of just throwing it."

"Ok," I had never tried something like that before. Curious, I did as she had suggested and sent a spray of poison towards the target. I laughed as it hissed and melted.

"Good job, Cole!" Cynder smiled.

I grinned at her, "Thanks, Cynder."

"Alright, now try to charge your claws with poison," she instructed, to my surprise and confusion. I didn't have claws. Did I?

I looked at her, "What?"

"Haven't you noticed?" she seemed surprised, "Look at your hands."

I was almost afraid of what I would see, but I looked at them anyway. My hands, from the wrist down, were covered with jet black scales. Glowing red lines stood out from the glossy scales. My fingers looked the same, but my nails had lengthened and thickened and now ended in razor sharp points. I was close to panic.

"C-Cynder, come here…" I whimpered, staring at my hands.

"What?" she blinked, confused.

"When did my hands grow scales?" I hissed, starting to feel really worried. What was happening to me?

"When you sent a stream of poison at the target," she replied matter-of-factly. Her calmness helped me to calm down, at least a little. I told myself I'd seen stranger things, though I couldn't really remember where or when.

"Ok," I took a deep breath, trying to regain my composure, "Cynder, what did you tell me to do?"

"Focus the poison into your claws," she repeated patiently.

I was still freaked out, but tried my best to concentrate. My claws started to glow with a poisonous green hue.

"Now, release it," Cynder ordered as she watched.

I did just that and my poison gem sent out a small burst of power. My claws glowed bright green and started to drip acid. Drops of acid fell to the floor at my feet and burned tiny holes in the wood.

"That's it," Cynder seemed pleased, "Good job, Cole."

"Thanks, Cynder," I said for the third time that day.

"Now, on to fear."

I let out a sigh, "I always hated using this one."

"I know what you mean," she muttered, to my surprise. I guess I wasn't the only one not particularly fond of the fear element.

I had a thought, "Hey, can you get Specter?"

"That's a good idea," Cynder replied, remembering that Specter was also a dragon of the fear element, "Try to focus the fear energy until I get back."

"Ok," I replied as the left the doo. I began charging a ball of fear in my palm and was surprised when it formed into a glowing red ball.

"Sweet," I grinned to myself, maintaining the ball of fear energy. It glowed with a sort of brutal beauty. Minutes passed; I began to get bored. I made another ball and began juggling them.

"Good to see you're working hard," said a voice behind me. I missed the ball I had just thrown and it came down on my head, shattering. I froze. I was absolutely paralysed. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Cynder and Specter rolling on the ground, laughing. I blushed with embarrassment.

"N-n-not f-funny, y-you two!" I stammered, hardly able to move my lips. After a few minutes, the fear wore off and I was able to move.

"Now what?" I asked the two dragonesses, shaking the feeling back into my limbs.

"Well, since you can create a ball already, why don't you try to make a fear wave?" Specter suggested.

I thought about it for a second, before I made a ball in each hand and smashed them together. The worst sound I've ever heard came out of my hands, as the energy force formed a bubble around me. Cynder looked at me with wide eyes. Clearly she hadn't expected that.

"Well, that's one way of doing it," she grinned wryly.

Specter was smiling, "That was amazing, Cole."

"Thanks," I stifled a yawn, "Specter, Cynder, I'm wiped out. Mind if I go home?"

"Sure, Cole, we'll come with you," they replied to my confusion.

But I shrugged and agreed anyway, "Ok"

By the time we reached our house, I still wasn't suspecting a thing. I figured Specter and Cynder just wanted to walk me home. I opened the door. The house was dark, which was a little strange. Cynder and Specter were behind me. I took a step into the doorway.

"SURPRISE!" someone yelled out suddenly and I jumped as though I'd been electrocuted.

There was a flash and the house was lit up from the inside. Gust and Rumbler were holding a cake with twenty candles on it and Flash was glowing with electricity. Spyro had a neatly wrapped present sitting between his paws. I stared. It seemed I had forgotten it was my birthday.

"Man! Wow!" I grinned at my friends, "Thanks, guys!"

"Here, open your present," Spyro insisted, nudging it towards me. I took it and was surprised at how heavy it was. It must have weighed at least fifty pounds. I tore off the paper and was surprised to see a lump of shiny metal.

"What's this?" I asked, running my hands over the glimmering metal.

"It's a piece of a fallen star," Spyro replied with a smile, "I thought you could make a sword out of it."

"Good idea," I agreed, wondering what sort of sword I could make out of star metal, "I'll do that tomorrow."

The rest of the day passed in a blur. All I know is that I had fun, surrounded by my friends.


	10. Chapter 10 my sword

**10.**

The day after my party, I decided I would make a sword out of the star metal I'd been given. I cut a small piece to work with – maybe about twenty pounds – and headed to the fire pit. That was the same fire pit Spyro and I had used to repair my armour. The dirt in the pit had turned to glass from the heat used to melt it.

I put the piece of star metal in the pit and began heating it with flame from my palms. Sparks were bouncing everywhere. I took my shirt off so that it wouldn't be burned. Finally, after several minutes of agonising heating, the metal finally turned molten. I drew some up to see if I would need to purify it. But whatever it was made of was the only material I could detect. It was pure.

I began to forge it into a sword. At first it was going to be a long sword, but the more I thought about, the more I wanted a unique sword. So I started over and made two three-foot long swords with two blades each. Considering how big they were, they were unusually light. In fact, they couldn't have weighed more than ten pounds total. That must have been one of the strange properties of star metal.

I left the hilt of my swords bare metal with a round hand guard. I picked one up and sent a charge of electricity into my palm and up the sword. The lightning bounced in between the blades, mesmerising in a way. I heard someone open my back door, distracting me.

"Hi, Cole," Gust greeted as he entered. I turned to face him, surprised.

"Hey, Gust. What are you doing here?" I asked curiously.

The wind dragon shrugged, "I came to make sure you're ok."

I smiled wearily, "I'm not hurt; just tired."

"Yeah," Gust gave me a look, "but when you see a pillar of flame behind your friend's house, you tend to get worried."

I guess I hadn't told anyone I was forging a sword, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare anyone."

"Well, you're ok," Gust shrugged, "So it's ok.

Then he noticed the two swords I had forged, where I had placed them on the bench, "Hey, nice blade!"

I was about to reply, when I noticed something that hadn't been there before. All the blades were different colours. One was green, while the other on the same sword was deep red. The blades of the other sword were bright yellow and sky blue. I stared.

"Hm? That's strange," I muttered, staring at the swords with a frown on my face.

"Hey, Cole, did you colour them?" Gust asked curiously, a little awed by the pair of swords.

I shook my head, "No, when I finished them they were silver."

"Weird," Gust cocked an eyebrow and looked back at me, "Anyway, Cole, Flash wanted to practice with you."

"Sure, but why…" I started to ask, before I understood, "Flash wants to battle me."

"Yep," Gust grinned, "he said we're all too slow."

"Ok, tell him I'll be there in half an hour," I replied, thinking it over, "I'm hungry."

"I'll tell him," Gust promised as I left.

I went inside to wash myself off and find something to satisfy my hunger. I've always liked deer. After I finished, I ran to the dojo to meet Flash and the rest of my friends. They seemed to have been waiting for me for a while.

"Jeez, Cole," Flash snorted, rolling his eyes, "I thought you would never get here."

"Yeah, yeah," I brushed him off and turned to Gust, "Rules?"

"Just one," the wind dragon replied gravely, "Don't kill each other."

"I think I can agree to that," I smirked, "You, Flash?"

"Yep," he was already getting into a battle stance. I mimicked him and prepared for the signal.

"START!" Gust yelled and Flash wasted no time.

The electricity dragon disappeared with a bang as he went supersonic. I made a shield just as he rammed into me, but it wasn't enough. I was sent flying from the force of the tackle. Flash was now standing where I had been a second ago.

"And here you said you couldn't fly!" he joked, laughing loudly. I was actually stuck in the wall.

"Very funny," I growled, prying myself out of the wall. I'd left a rather large crack in the stone. I hurled a fireball at Flash without warning, but he was already gone. The stone where he had been standing shattered as the fireball hit it. I heard another bang.

"Crap."

I was sent flying again. This time I landed feet-first onto the wall and super charged my legs. Now we were both moving at supersonic speed. I jumped and nailed him square in the chest with my shoulder. I heard and felt several things crack and break, bones no doubt – my guess most of his ribs and most of my collar bone and the upper half of my arm. My force propelled me past Flash and I slammed head first into the wall on the opposite side.

Flash had dropped down onto all four knees. Gust and Specter ran to him, while Rumbler came to help me. I tried to wave him away, wincing as my broken bones ached painfully.

"Rumbler, I'm fine," I grunted, "help Flash."

He just gave me a look, "Like hell, Cole."

I tried to protest, but he picked me up and put me on his back. There was nothing I could do to protest, so I resigned to being carried like a hatchling.

At the healers, Flash and I were put in the same room. After we had been treated, we sat in awkward silence. But not for long.

"Cole?" Flash broke the silence and I looked at him.

"What?"

"I want a re-match."

Despite the fact that it hurt like hell, we were both laughing our heads off. After that, we talked through the night and finally fell asleep when the moon was high in the sky.


	11. Chapter 11Recovery

**11.**

A few days later, the healer was convinced that Flash and I were well enough to leave. Most of the time my healing gem only speeds up my recovery. Only sometimes, like when it was awakened, would it sound out a burst of energy to heal me and everyone around me. Flash, being a dragon, had a quick recovery time.

Upon leaving, we headed for our house. Only, something seemed different. From the outside the house looked a lot bigger than it had three days ago. Then I realised: it had two more rooms.

"Well, let's see what they did now," I muttered to Flash.

We entered the house and everyone froze. Rumbler was holding up the wall and Spyro was welding it to the other walls. I stared and they stared right back at me.

"Hey, we're back!" Flash cried cheerfully, in an overly-excited manner. I swear, if I hadn't just crippled us both only days before, I would have hit him.

"No duh," Rumbler grumbled, straining under the weight of the wall.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Renovating," Spyro answered bluntly. He said it with the strangest look on his face. Flash and I burst out laughing. Pretty soon we had everyone gasping for air.

Once everyone could breathe again, I asked if I could help.

"Yeah, can you hold up this wall?" Rumbler grunted, shifting slightly. The wall creaked and threatened to fall.

I hurried over at hold up the wall beside the earth dragon, grinning, "That's the best you can do? Sure, I could use a workout."

The wall wasn't as heavy as I had expected. Rumbler and I held it up easily. Spyro continued to breathe fire on it, slowing welding it to the other walls. Then, to our surprise, its colour changed to black. I blinked, surprised, and remembered something similar happening to something else.

"Hey, Spyro?" I asked curiously.

He looked up, "What?"

"Did you use the star metal for the walls?"

"Yeah," he seemed surprised, "How did you know?"

So I was right. I grinned, "It just changed to the colour of Cynder's scales."

"Hm?" Spyro glanced at the wall he had been welding, "Well, I was thinking of Cynder when I flamed it."

It was quite amazing really. This star metal was both amazingly strong and light. Now, to add to its list of admirable traits, it could read minds! I grinned at the thought. Then I saw myself, reflected in the glossy black surface of the wall. My arms all the way up to my shoulders were covered in jet-black scales with glowing red lines. I frowned. Previously, it had only been my hands and wrists.

"Spyro? Come here," I requested quietly.

"What, Cole?" he asked, striding over to me.

I held out my hands, "Look at my arms."

The purple dragon stared, "When did you grow scales?"

I shrugged, "About a week ago. But that was only on my hands."

"Jeez, Cole," Spyro muttered, with a bit of a smirk, "you're turning into a dragon."

"No offense," I mumbled, flexing my scaled hands, "but I don't want to be a dragon."

"Well," Spyro hesitated, considering my black scales for a moment, "you might just get scales."

I held up my hand and clicked my claws. They shimmered silver, like metal. Spyro could be right. I hoped he was.

"Spyro, what am I going to do?" I asked at last, with a heavy sigh.

But he could only shake his head, "I don't know, Cole."

Usually I try not to stay depressed for long, if I can help it. So I shook off the worried, anxious feelings, and focused on something else that I'd been considering.

"Hey, Spyro, how much of this metal do we have left?" I asked, gesturing at the wall. Spyro seemed surprised that I wasn't downcast anymore.

"Two or three hundred pounds, I think," he answered, raising a scaly eyebrow.

"Yeah, that'll work."

Spyro gave me a guarded look, "Cole, what are you thinking and should I be afraid?"

"I'm thinking," I said with a grin, "that you and me are going to plate the dragon armour."

It took him a few seconds to understand, but when he did his eyes widened.

"Yeah… YEAH! Sure!"

It took almost half an hour to finish the wall and by then we were all tired. I had taken over from Spyro, welding the rest of it, and it took a lot of energy. When we were done, Spyro came up to me.

"So, should we do it tonight?" He asked. I looked at him and showed him I was covered in sweat. He didn't need much more than that to understand.

"I'll wake you up tomorrow," he promised with a tired smile, "Night."

"Goodnight, Spyro," I yawned as he left the house. Rumbler and Flash had already gone.

Alone, I took a shower and ate before I clambered into bed. That night, I had a dream. A strange dream.

I was standing on a road somewhere, but I didn't know where. Fog hung in the air, obscuring everything around me. It was cold. I made a fireball in my palm, willing away the cold and the fog. The fog evaporated, clearing the air, and I saw something that nearly made my hair turn white. Suddenly I felt even colder.

My friends were hanging from a tree, strung up by their wings.

They were dead.

"NO!" A shout ripped itself from my throat as I shot up from my bed, the nightmare still fresh in my mind. It was then that I noticed my room. It was a vision of hell.

The entire room was in flames. Had I done that? With a yell, I leapt off my bed and broke my door down, collapsing like a puppet in the hallway. Gasping for breath, I looked behind me and was relieved to see that the fire had stayed in my room. Not wasting any time, I froze the flames solid with ice. The heat from the fire was instantly gone.

I fell like a puppet with its strings cut and curled myself into a ball on the floor. I stayed that way until Specter found me. Her pawfalls padded to a stop as she halted beside me. I heard her gasp and knew she had just seen what had happened to my room.

"Cole? Cole, it's okay," she had the softest voice, but I knew she had no idea what had just happened.

"No, Specter," I whimpered, still curled up on the floor. I refused to open my eyes, "I saw it." I couldn't talk well at that point, as though the nightmare had frightened my words away.

"What? What did you see? Cole, what's wrong?" Specter begged, not understanding.

I took a shaky breath, "Dead. You're all going to die."

There was a silence before her voice answered gently, "No, Cole, we're staying right here. We'll always be here. Now get some sleep."

She wrapped her wings around me comfortingly and I fell asleep in her embrace.


	12. Chapter 12 Feelings

**12.**

A few days after I had torched my room, I found that I could hardly sleep for a few hours before I would wake up screaming. The nightmares just kept coming. With the lack of sleep, pretty soon I was like the walking dead.

"Cole? COLE? Earth to Cole!" someone was yelling in my ear.

I jumped, blinking, and wondered what I had been thinking. A black dragoness was looking at me, irritated by my lack of response.

"Huh?" I mumbled, "What? Oh, sorry, Cynder."

She sighed and shook her head, "Spyro wanted to know if you're up to the project."

"Yeah, I am," I stifled a yawn, "Tell him to bring about one hundred pounds."

"Ok, I will. See you, Cole," and she ran off to find Spyro.

I grabbed a jug of water on my bedside table. I had mixed it with crushed green sprit gems. I had discovered that the concoction supercharged my gems and gave me a rush of energy, kind of like caffeine. Unfortunately, after too much, my body would crash. I needed it this morning, especially after such a horrible night.

There was a knock on the door and I called, "Come in, Spyro!"

The purple dragon pushed the door open and strode in. He looked at me, "Cole, I'm going to be honest, you look like hell."

I chuckled, "Thanks, I try. Anyway, are you ready?"

"If you are," he grinned wryly. I smirked back.

"We should coat the pieces separately so that the colour is right," I suggested, before I noticed that Spyro had something with him.

"Hey, Spyro? Are those Cynder's rings?" I asked, surprised. He blushed and glanced down at the silvery metal rings.

"Yeah, I thought they would look nice," he admitted.

"I agree," I said, remembering something else. I reached across to my bedside table and picked up a set of plan metal rings.

"What do you have there?" Spyro asked curiously.

"Oh," I looked at the rings thoughtfully, "Rumbler asked me to make them for Specter."

"That's nice."

I stood up, "We should do the rings first. They will be easiest to coat."

Together we headed to the fire pit. I put a fist-sized piece of metal in it and torched it with as much fire power as I could. The small piece of metal only took a few seconds to melt. Picking the rings up, I plunged them and my hands into the molten metal. Spyro's eyes widened in alarm.

"Cole! Doesn't that hurt?" he yelped.

"Nope," I replied simply with a shrug.

Spyro stared, "How? Is it the scales or your gems?"

But I didn't know myself, "No idea."

I took the rings out and wiped the molten metal off my hands. The metal on the rings cooled instantly and became the colour of Specter's scales – a brilliant bright red. Spyro whistled softly.

"Wow, Cole, that's amazing," he murmured.

I grinned a little sheepishly, "Thanks."

The purple dragon considered me suspiciously for a moment before asking, "Cole, Rumbler didn't ask you to make those, did he?"

I figured he'd realise sooner or later, so there was no use denying, "No, he didn't. But she won't know that."

"You just want her to be happy?" he asked gently.

"Yeah…" I murmured, staring at the rings in my hands, "So, please, don't tell her."

"Don't worry, I won't," Spyro promised, to my relief, "Your secret is safe with me."

"Oh, you don't have to keep it a secret," said a new voice and I jumped in shock.

"Oh shit," I muttered, turning around. Specter was standing behind me, a smirk on her face.

"How long were you there?" I asked, a little embarrassed.

"Long enough," she replied simply.

All I could think was, '_Damn._'

She stepped forwards to admire the rings I had made for her. Her eyes seemed to glow with pleasure.

"Cole, thank you," she purred happily, "they're beautiful."

I had to hold my mouth shut so I that wouldn't say anything stupid. Spyro was apparently reading my mind – which, at the time, would be a short read – because he said, "Uh? Specter? We need to work and Cole can't think at the moment."

She glanced at Spyro and then back at me, "Ok, I'll talk to him later. Bye, Spyro." When she was gone, taking the rings with her, Spyro came over to me. But I was in my own little world, completely unresponsive. In other words, I was sleeping. But who could blame me, after all my lack of sleep?

Spyro placed his head right beside my ear and yelled, "WAKE UP!"

I jumped a good six feet in the air and yelped, "WHAT?"

"Cole," Spyro was trying to hide a grin, "you ok?"

"No idea," I mumbled, feeling disorientated, "at all."

"Well, can you work?" he asked.

"Uh…" I blinked, rubbing the back of my head, "Yeah."

My head had cleared a little bit and a thought struck me, "Hey, Spyro? Did you notice anything off about Specter?"

"No. Why?"

"Her colour seemed off," I shrugged, "Her scales looked darker."

Spyro came up to me and smacked me upside the head, to my surprise. It sure hurt.

"OW!" I yelped indignantly, holding a hand to my head, "What was that for?"

"You're clueless," was all he said. While I was still wondering about it, he coated Cynder's rings and armour.

After that, I did Gust's, Flash's and Rumbler's all without incident. But when I got to Specter's, the colour was off. It was a darker red than her scales usually were. I didn't know why.

"Damn," I mumbled and turned to my partner, "Spyro?"

He had fallen asleep. I got an idea – an idea for revenge. I snuck to his side and cupped my hands next to his ear. I drew in breath.

"SPYRO, WAKE UP!" I bellowed as loud as I could.

The purple dragon jumped just as high as I did, but his claws connected with my chest. I cringed, expecting it to hurt, but I was wrong. His claws sparked along my chest, shredding my shirt. But I was unharmed. I stared.

My chest was covered in jet-black scales, just like my arms. The red lines were connected together. I traced them and they all ended at my chest gem. Curious, I poked the gem and the lines flashed. Spyro stared, blinking sleepily.

"Man, Cole," he mumbled, "just when I think you can't get any stranger."

I shook my head, a wave of fatigue washing over me. I would worry about things later. For now, I needed sleep. "Spyro, I'm done for tonight."

"Ok," he didn't argue, "Night, Cole."

He left and I washed myself off. Before I retired to bed, I attempted to scratch my scales, just to see if I could. But nothing would scratch them. Maybe only something as strong as diamond could. Maybe.

"Damn, I give up," I yawned and stumbled over to my bed.

I collapsed on it limply and went to sleep instantly. That night, I had no dreams.


	13. Chapter 13 Scales

**13.**

It had been a few days since I had seen Specter last and I was afraid my feelings would get the jump on me again. I was certain that my scales had something to do with it. I'm twenty, not thirteen. The red lines on my scales were connected to my mood, I found out. So, to hide them, I took to wearing thick shirts.

"Cole, you're going to kill yourself from heatstroke," Spyro had warned the second day.

"No, I'm not," I had protested. But my body begged to differ. I stopped wearing shirts.

It wasn't many days afterwards that Rumbler came running up to me. He seemed angry and I instantly knew why. Before I could react, he fired a massive earth shot. I barely had time to shield myself with my arms before it struck. I skidded back several meters.

"YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH!" I heard him roar and then the thundering of paws as he charged at me. I blinked dust out of my eyes just in time to see him leap at me.

"RUMBLER, STOP!" I yelled, but it was in vain. He crashed into my chest, knocking me back painfully. I didn't want to fight him.

Rumbler was in a major rage, his eyes burning with fury. He wanted to beat the shit out of me, I could tell. So, I figured I would let him. Maybe that was the best thing for him at the moment, just to let his anger out. I formed the comet steel in my pack into a light plate on my chest and arms to protect myself.

Rumbler roared and smashed the armour with his powerful paws. I grunted in pain, staggering back. He didn't break it, but he bent it in, no doubt bruising my body in the process. It hurt, but I withstood it.

"Why, Cole? Why would you do that?" despite being a power player, Rumbler wasn't an endurance player. He was running out of breath and had stopped striking me for now. I lowered my arms and looked him in the eye. He was angry, hurt...betrayed. I knew what he was talking about.

"Rumbler…I was going to say they were from you," I explained gently, "but she walked in on me and Spyro."

Rumbler froze, his eyes widened in shock and scepticism, "Why?"

"For two reasons," I told him carefully, "First – I like to see her smile. Second – I was going to make one for you as well, and put a gem in each."

Rumbler had calmed down just a hair, "So…so you didn't…?"

"No, Rumbler," I sighed, letting my arms fall to my sides.

Rumbler's face was filled with regret as he realised he'd been acting way out of code. He looked down, "Sorry, Cole. Did I hurt you?"

"No, I don't think so," I reassured him. My face had a few scratches, but that was the worst of my injuries.

"You boys done yet?" asked a feminine voice. I wasn't even surprised.

"Hi, Specter," I said evenly, turning around to face her. Unlike last time, my head wasn't foggy and I wasn't tongue tied.

"So, Rumbler, is he forgiven?" she asked the earth dragon. Rumbler nodded stiffly, looking a little ashamed.

"Good," Specter beamed and then turned to me, "Cole, next time you want to give me something, tell him first."

"Yeah," I grinned sheepishly, "Ok."

Then I noticed that her rings were glowing. I blinked.

"Uh, Rumbler? Is she glowing?" I whispered.

"Yeah…" Rumbler stared at the rings in confusion, "Cole, is there something I don't know?"

"I imagine that there is a lot," I smirked, "But I have no idea."

We turned to look again, but she was gone.

"What the hell!" I looked at Rumbler, "What just happened?"

"No idea," Rumbler muttered suspiciously, glaring at the spot where Specter had been only seconds ago.

"What are you two doing?" Flash yelled suddenly, scaring us half to death. Rumbler and I jumped back just as he phased in between us.

"FLASH!" Rumbler yelled furiously, "Damn, Flash, I _told_ you not to do that!"

The earth dragon started chasing Flash around, while the electricity dragon laughed his head off. It was pretty funny, until Flash thought it would be a good idea to shoot a lightning bolt at Rumbler. Rumbler ducked and the bolt hit me instead. The worst part was, I was still in a metal suit.

The lightning bounced around inside the suit, I heard a bang, and suddenly I was sent flying. I started to fall, stunned by the electricity that had coursed through my body. I hit the ground so hard that I went about ten feet into the earth, leaving a hole in the ground shaped like my body. I smelled something burning and figured it was me. There was smoke coming out of the top of my suit. Looking down, I saw some of my scales were tinted red.

"COLE! YOU OK DOWN THERE?" Flash called as I struggled to sit up in the hole I had made.

"FLASH!" I roared, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

I heard Flash say to Rumbler, "Yep, he's ok."

"RUMBLER, GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I yelled frantically. I was smaller than most dragons, but also extremely claustrophobic. Being in a hole this small and cramped was nearly make me hyperventilate.

"Cole, calm down," Rumbler's voice soothed as he appeared at the top of the hole.

I craned my head up to see him and yelled, "GET ME OUT!"

He pulled me out with ease and I took a huge breath once I was back in the open air. I looked at Flash.

"Oh crap," the electricity dragon muttered. He took off running.

"FLASH!" I took off after him. Suddenly, there was a pop and he was gone. In front of me was Spyro, instead. I couldn't stop, so I dropped to my knees and rolled. I crashed into Spyro, taking him down with me, but not as hard as what would have happened had I been running.

When we stopped rolling, Spyro struggled upright and looked at me, "Cole, what the hell?"

I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

"Sorry," I managed at last.

Spyro shook his head slowly, "Ok, Cole, go get yourself cleaned up and get some sleep."

I stopped laughing, sensing the seriousness in his voice, "Why?"

"We found a mission you might like," the purple dragon explained, "but we need you at one hundred percent."

"Ok," I shrugged, standing up. It sounded interesting. "Good night, Spyro."

I headed to my house, already thinking about what I would do to Flash if I found him.


	14. Chapter 14 The vision

I woke up before the sun came out. In the vague light of a coming dawn, I got dressed and put my armour on. I decided to carry the helmet. Then, I headed to the temple where Spyro was waiting for me.

"You're late," he said with a smile.

"You're early," I retorted with a grin.

Amused, Spyro only shook his head, "Good morning."

"You too," I replied, "So what did you want me for?"

"Come with me and I'll show you."

He turned away and led me into the Temple. I'd never been in there before. Not because they wouldn't let me, but because I felt like I didn't deserve to be in here. This was a hall of heroes. And me…I'm no hero.

"Come on, Cole!" Spyro called, at the end of the hall.

"Coming," I called back, hurrying after him. We entered into a room with a round pool in the centre.

"Spyro, we can swim outside," I said, raising a confused eyebrow. I didn't know what it was for at the time.

"We don't swim in this pool," Spyro corrected me seriously.

I blinked, "Then what do you do?"

"In it, we can see things that will happen," Spyro said mysteriously, "and see what _has_ happened."

"So you can see the future?" I asked, awed.

"Yes. Look and see."

So I did. What I saw amazed and terrified me.

Warfang was in ruins and covered in ice. Then the view zoomed in so quickly I felt my stomach lurch and I saw something that made my heart almost stop. I was fighting Spyro with a sword that was not my own. I saw Spyro fly up to, I imagine, hit me with a fury. But I – although it wasn't really me – stabbed him in the chest. Then I heard a voice in my head, so loud it made my bones rattle.

'_ALL BY YOUR HAND!' _

I was screaming, "NO, NO, NO!" But I was unable to look away. I felt as though the images were sucking me in. Suddenly, I felt something grab me and pull me back.

"Cole! Cole, it's ok!" I looked up to see Spyro and Cynder looking at me anxiously.

"Cole, what did you see?" Cynder pressed, worried by my reaction. I was shaking all over.

"W-Warfang was destroyed," I stammered, "It was falling in on itself and frozen over."

"Anything else?" Spyro asked anxiously. I looked up at him with haunted eyes.

"Yes. I killed you."

I hung my head low and tried not to break down.

"Cole, it's ok," Cynder tried to comfort me, but she looked worried.

I shook my head, "No, Cynder, it's not. I killed Spyro!"

Spyro stood beside me, looking slightly pale. He knew full well what I was capable of. But still he refused to believe it.

"Cole, that doesn't have to happen," he insisted, to my surprise, "That is only one possible future, and the darkest one at that."

"W-would that happen?" I asked, still trembling.

Spyro looked away, "I don't know, Cole."

I pulled my mind together and decided to move forward. There was no use worrying about these things. It wouldn't help.

"Spyro, what did you want me here for?" I asked. He was surprised by the way my demeanour changed in just a few seconds. I went from a carefree, if not traumatized, person, to an all-business mercenary. I guess I had practice with that sort of stuff.

"Wow," Spyro muttered to himself and then shook his head roughly, "Uh? Anyway, we need you to check out Munitions Forge."

"Why?"

"We haven't heard anything from them in months," he replied and I could tell he was worried, "We need someone to check it out."

"Sure," I raised an eyebrow. If he was sending me, then there must be something else he was already planning to do. "But, mind if I ask where you are going?"

"To the plains of the Atlawa tribe," Spyro responded bluntly. I nodded, having heard of the strange llama-like race before.

"Ok," I accepted, "my team and I leave tomorrow."

"May luck follow you," I figured he said that for me personally, considering my recent screw-ups.

"And you too, my friend," I replied with a nod.

"WHAT?" Rumbler growled.

"Cole, we're done being mercenaries, you said it yourself!" Specter added, a note of pleading in her voice.

"We won't be mercs, just a search party," I protested. We were in Gusts's house and I had just told my friends what Spyro had asked of me. They didn't seem pleased with the idea.

"Then why did Spyro ask you?" Flash retorted.

"He thought there might be trouble?" I suggested with a shrug, unsure myself, "I don't know."

Gust decided it was time for his two cents, which was three more than most of my arguments.

"Guys, we may not be mercenaries anymore, but we all were born to fight," the wind dragon insisted, quieting everyone down. He always had a way with words, "This is a chance to right passed wrongs. It's a start."

Everyone else glanced at each other and I saw a note of understanding flash in their eyes.

"Yeah," Rumbler sighed, "He's right."

I knew he spoke for everyone. Thank the ancestors for Gust's persuasive powers.

"Ok, now it's settled," I said, trying not to sound too triumphant, "We leave at dawn."

That night I was plating my armour with comet steel, when I had a 'light-bulb' moment. The cuffs were made of steel, meaning they were heavy and relatively weak compared to this stuff. So I cut the cuffs off and replaced them with the comet steel. At around ten at night I was finally done, ready for the journey the next day. I went inside, washed, and went to bed. Tomorrow would be an eventful day.


	15. Chapter 15 Revlations

The trip to Munitions Forge was more or less uneventful. I was able to keep pace with all of my friends, except for Gust. I swear he was showing off. He was flying faster than I could run flat out, and that was without even flapping! So I got an idea.

That alone should scare you.

I charged myself with lightning, increasing my speed greatly, and overtook him in a mere few seconds. I think that got the message across. After that, we stayed at the same pace for a few hours. When we were approximately twenty miles away, we were able see Boyzitbig, the volcano that dominated the land. It was aptly named. That thing was huge.

"Well, we're nearly there," I pointed out, gazing towards the huge mountain of fire.

Flash gave me a sarcastic look, "Really? Where?"

He began looking around, as though he hadn't noticed the huge volcano in the distance. I glared.

Specter smashed into him, "Flash, now is not the time." She looked at me, worry in her eyes, "Cole, something is wrong. There isn't any fear radiating from that volcano."

It took me a second to understand what she meant, but then I understood, "You mean no one's there?"

"No one alive," she responded darkly. I felt shivers run up my arms.

Soon we were about a mile outside of the mole town and a little apprehensive about what we would find there.

"Everyone ready up," I ordered, my hands inching towards the hilts of my swords.

We all went into battle mode, preparing for the worst. I drew my swords and charged them with energy.

"I'll take point," I offered, although it was more of a statement than a suggestion. We formed a V formation as we approached the village. Everything was utterly silent. Not a sound, not even a gust of wind. The back of my neck prickled. Something was wrong.

"Man, creepy," Flash mumbled in a low voice.

"For once I agree with you," Rumbler growled back, his eyes darting to and fro warily. I almost stopped there. Rumbler never agreed with Flash.

"Where is everybody?" I wondered aloud, confused by the silence, the lack of life and noise.

"No clue," Gust shrugged as we neared the village.

A horrible smell reached my nose, of charred flesh and freshly spilt blood. I stopped in my tracks as though turned to stone, a look of horror on my face.

We had found the mole village.

"HOLY SHIT!"

It looked like a war zone. The homes were caved in and there were bodies everywhere, littering the ground like limp sacks of fur and skin. The stench of death was overwhelming.

Specter's shoulders trembled, "W-what happened here?"

"A massacre," was all I could manage in a husky voice. My fists clenched.

"Someone…help!" came a weak shout from one of the houses.

"Rumbler!" I yelled, and he needed no more instruction.

"On it," he growled, tapping into his elemental earth energy.

The rocks took flight, clearing the caved-in house away and revealing a small figure on the ground. It was a mole, his fur stained with blood, struggling to sit up.

I ran to him and lifted him carefully, unsure what injuries he may have.

"You ok?" I asked gently, feeling him trembling against my supporting hands.

The mole coughed, splattering the ground with blood, "N-no."

I sent a pulse of healing energy into him, hoping it would help. His body slowly began to stop shaking and he took a breath, his dark eyes blinking as a little more life returned to them.

"Better?"

"Kind of," the mole mumbled, reaching up to wipe blood from his mouth.

We set up camp in the middle of the town, trying to block out the stench of the massacred villagers that lay slaughtered around us. Specter kept her eyes shut, as though she couldn't bear to see them. The mole we had saved seemed to be feeling better, but his eyes were hollow and haunted.

"Ok, now what the hell happened here?" I asked him, gesturing to the destroying village. I wanted answers.

"The Dark Army happened," he replied grimly, huskily.

I frowned, "What warriors?"

"Wolves."

"Huh?" I blinked, confused. Last I'd heard, the Dark Army had been formed of grublins and the like, "I haven't heard of them."

"They went into the volcano," the mole said, waving a paw limply towards Boyzitbig.

Then I remembered something, "Uh, hey, where is your leader? Mole-yair?"

The mole looked up at me, meeting my eyes with his own dark empty ones. He had seen death – too much of it. He raised a paw and pointed without even looking, "Right there."

At first I thought it was a flag pole, but then I looked closer. What I saw made me sick to my stomach.

"Gust?" I swallowed, unable to tear my eyes away from the thing swinging limply from the pole, "Is that him?"

"Yes…" Gust whispered.

The mole leader was hung by the poll, his mouth open and bloody. He was dead.

"Son-of-a…" I hissed, clenching my fists again, "Flash, get him down."

Flash started to protest, but a look from me shut him up.

Half an hour later, Rumbler and I had made a grave and headstone for the old mole. It was the least he deserved as leader of the mole village. I couldn't believe that anyone could have murdered him so cruelly.

"Flash?" I asked once we had finished our work. My palms were stained with dirt.

"What, Cole?" Flash's voice sounded a lot duller than it usually did.

"How far can you phase?"

"About one hundred miles."

I thought for a moment, "Go to Warfang and if Spyro is back, tell him to get his arse back to Munitions Forge."

"And if he's not?" Flash muttered bitterly, his gaze fixed on Mole-yair's tombstone.

"Tell Cynder and the new guardians," I replied, glancing towards Boyzitbig.

Somehow, Flash knew that I was planning something, "What are you going to do?"

"Re-take the volcano," I said bluntly, "Take our friend with you, too, back to Warfang. He'll be safe there."

"Cole, don't you dare die," Flash was unusually sombre, but he never argued.

I looked down at him, "Don't worry, I won't."

The electricity dragon strode over to our mole friend, who had been sitting alone staring dully at the ground. The mole didn't even react when Flash stopped next to him. Flash sighed and glanced at me one more time. Then there was a pop and they were gone.

"Cole, was that wise?" Rumbler asked, looking at the spot where Flash had been only seconds before.

"I don't know," I replied truthfully, shaking my head. I wasn't sure what was wise anymore.

"When do we start the assault?" the earth dragon asked carefully. I glanced at Boyzitbig again.

"Tomorrow. We need to be at one hundred percent."

Rumbler hesitated, "Cole, should I…"

"Yes," I interrupted, already knowing what he was going to ask, "I'll help."

Together we formed a mammoth of a wall between us and the volcano, protecting us from whatever creatures lurked within the mountain of flame. That left us alone in a village full of slaughtered moles. I looked at my friends.

"All right, get some sleep," I ordered gently.

"Night all," I heard Gust whisper.

"Night," I responded in a hoarse voice.

And with that, I put the fire out and went to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16 Assult

"Everybody, wake up!"

All three of them shot up ready for a fight, but saw only me standing there. I saw them relax slightly, but knew they were tense about what we were about to do today.

"Ready?" I asked.

Rumbler was the first one to answer, "Yes. Let's kick some wolf ass."

I unsheathed my twin swords, "That's what I like to hear."

I donned my helmet, "Rumbler, you and me will take point. Flash, Specter, follow up behind." No one argued. We had used this formation before, many times.

"All right, then. Move out." We took down the wall Rumbler and I had created last night and headed for the volcano, deserting the massacred village of moles.

We found our way into the mountain of fire through a tunnel in the side that looked like it used to be an old train tunnel. There were battered and rusted metal tracks imbedded in the ground. We made our way in slowly, keeping a wary eye out. My swords were charged with fire and poison. I went in first, listening and watching. I saw nothing. There was no sound.

"Come on! No one home?" I yelled out. My voice echoed strangely.

Suddenly I heard a howl and a huge wolf appeared with a pop. Its fur was crackling and standing on end, as though charged with electricity. It startled me and I took an involuntary step back.

"Rumbler!" I yelled. The earth dragon fired a massive earth shot and hit the wolf in the chest. But the ugly beast just stood there laughing. Annoyance flowed through me.

"Laugh at this!" I brought my swords down on its chest, crossing them in an X shape. Unfortunately for me, that was a very bad idea. I had left the handles of my swords as bare metal to conduct my electricity. However, it also worked both ways, as I found out at that moment.

I felt a massive jolt travel up my arms, for a moment completely stunning me. But it bounced back and I staggered away. It hurt like hell, but it didn't kill me. I shook my head to clear it and looked at my opponent.

"Huh?" The damage to the wolf had been done. My swords had fried and poisoned it. But that thing wasn't going down without a fight. It was clawing my armour and sending sparks flying.

I heard Rumbler yell, "DOWN!" I had no idea what he was thinking, so I dropped. A massive gust ripped over my head and I heard something scream. Then a massive earth spear hit the wolf's destroyed chest and pinned it to the wall.

"Take that, furball!" Rumbler snarled.

"Nice aim, Rumbler," I praised, standing up, "Got to remember that one."

Suddenly I heard a gurgle and looked up in time to see the wolf pull the spear from its chest. He hurled it at me, to my shock. Acting on instinct, I held my swords up in defence. The spear struck my swords at an impressive speed and split in two. Each half imbedded into the wall behind me.

"Damn, can't this thing get a hint?" I growled. Apparently not. It got up and started limping towards me, despite its ruined body.

I charged at the hideous beast and raised my swords, slicing through its neck before it could react. At the same time I sent a jolt of electricity through my swords. The opposing charges shorted each other out and the wolf's head went rolling.

"Now stay dead, damn it!" I managed to gasp before I fell to the ground.

"Cole! You ok?"

"I'm fine, just tired," I mumbled, shaking my head "There has to be a faster way to kill these things."

There was a moment of silence in which we all thought about it. Then it was Gust who came up with the winning idea.

"We could detonate the volcano."

Specter looked at him like he was crazy, "How?"

But it was me who answered as a plan began to form in my mind, "Superheat the volcano until it is ready to blow."

Now Gust looked at me like I was crazy, "How would you get out in time?" Clearly that wasn't what he had been thinking. I was about to answer when there was a pop and Flash appeared.

"So, what did I miss?" the electricity dragon asked eagerly.

I smirked wryly, "Not much."

Flash glanced at my battered armour and the remains of the headless wolf, "Not much, huh?"

I didn't beat around the bush, "Flash, me and Rumbler are going to detonate the volcano, but we need someone fast to get us the hell out of there before it blows."

I saw a sparkle in his eye as he replied, "I'm in."

Several moments later we were back in the destroyed mole village, away from the heat of the volcano and ready to plan our next attack. My first question was directed at Flash.

"Did you find Spyro?"

"Yeah," his face darkened, "the plains are no more. The Atlawa are gone."

"Wow," I muttered, frowning. Gone, just like the moles. Something bad was happening.

"Spyro is on his way," Flash told me, "He's…well, I've never seen him like he is now. When I saw him…he scared even me."

I nodded, frowning, "Well, then I think we should wait for him. How long?"

"A day," Flash shrugged, "maybe less."

"Ok, then we wait for him," I turned my gaze back to the volcano and my eyes darkened, "When he gets here, we bring Armageddon to them."


	17. Chapter 17 Detonation

When Spyro arrived the next day, he looked like hell. There was no other word for it. His eyes were sunken and dull, his scales had lost all lustre, and his wings seemed to droop as though waterlogged.

"Spyro?" I asked anxiously. He didn't respond.

"Spyro!" I tried again, louder, and he looked at me with dead eyes, "You ok?"

"No," His voice was blunt, devoid of emotion, "They were all dead. All gone."

I hesitated and looked back at the destroyed village of moles, "Yeah…same here."

A tiny bit of life glimmered in Spyro's eyes, "Who?"

"These jacked wolves," I answered, anger towards them showing in my voice, "We fought one and I had to decapitate it to kill it."

Spyro looked stunned, "How big was it?"

At least he was more responsive now. I thought about it, "At least eight feet tall."

"Damn!" the purple dragon swore, "I thought we killed them all."

I was thoroughly confused, "What?"

"Those wolves are more like you than I care to believe," Spyro replied bitterly.

"How?" I asked, confused.

"Those wolves are experimental shock troopers for the Dark army," he explained, "trained by Malefor himself. They have spirit crystal shards in them."

That little fact made my blood run cold, "Malefor? I thought you killed him five years ago."

"I did," Spyro muttered bluntly.

"Then how are they here?"

"They must have survived and are continuing to wage his war."

I glanced at Boyzitbig and then back at Spyro, "Well, I have a way to kill all of them in this volcano."

He raised an eyebrow, "How?"

"Detonate the volcano," I replied grimly. Spyro looked at me like I was insane.

"What!"

"Me and Rumbler will force it to blow," I replied evenly.

Spyro was aghast, "But you both will be killed!"

Flash interrupted quickly in that fast-forward voice of his, "No they won't. I'll warp them out when it is ready to blow."

"Fine," Spyro still didn't look like he liked the idea, "how can I help?"

I looked him directly in the eyes. He had to know that I wasn't messing around. This was serious. "You can't. Our actions have to be perfectly in sync or else it will go off early or not at all."

Spyro looked disappointed by that spec of information, "Damn. I'll get them next time then, I guess."

I patted him on the back with a strained smile, "No lie there."

"See you round, Cole. I hope."

Spyro left quickly with Gust and Specter, leaving the rest of us alone. I didn't know where they were going or why. I guessed I would ask them later.

"When do we start?" Rumbler asked.

I glanced at them, "Now."  
Together, Rumbler, Flash and I phased to the top of the volcano. Waves of heat shimmered in the air, warping our surroundings. The rock itself was hot beneath our feet. There were even patches where the rock had turned molten, mostly near the centre of the volcano.

"Man, it's way too hot up here," Flash groaned. Rumbler and I were more or less immune to heat, but Flash wasn't. It could even be dangerous for him up here, I realized.

"Flash, go back down," I told him, "I'll send up a green flare when we need to leave."

"Thanks," he sighed gratefully. He didn't even try to argue. There was a bang and he was gone.

"Ok," I clapped my hands together, "Time to raise hell."

"Got it," Rumbler grunted. I began making lava in my hands and Rumbler was throwing rocks at the molten patches in the centre. Several hot moments passed.

"Rumbler?" I said after a while, ceasing what I was doing.

"Yeah? What?"

"You feel that?" We both stopped and listened. The ground was shaking.

"SHIT! QUAKE!" I yelled, dropping the last glob of lava I'd formed. It ate into the rocks as the whole volcano began to tremble under us.

I sent up a green burst and Flash appeared within seconds. He looked around, staggering to keep his balance on the quaking mountain.

"TIME TO LEAVE!" I roared and lunged for the electricity dragon. I grabbed his wing as Rumbler did the same, there was a crack, and we were gone.

We phased back at the base of the volcano, gazing up at it. There was a massive flash and I shielded my eyes against the painful glare. When the light faded, the top of the volcano was gone. Something was rising out of what remained of the volcano. Something huge that began to spread its wings as its shadow fell across the land.

"Cole, is that…?" Rumbler muttered, staring at the monolithic creature.

"I think so," I muttered back. Maybe it was just formed of smoke from the volcano and would evaporate at any moment. But my luck was never that good. That thing was as real as I was.

"Damn, that's a big dragon," I whispered. It was so massive that it almost blocked out the sky. I couldn't even describe it.

"Flash?" I asked. He was staring at the dragon, completely stunned. "FLASH!"

"What?" he yelled, jumping and turning to me with wide eyes.

"Go to Warfang," I told him calmly, although my heart was beating erratically against my ribcage, "Get Spyro and tell him to prepare the city for war."

"Find Spyro," Flash repeated, still looking stunned, "Prepare for war. Got it." With a bang, he disappeared.

Rumbler turned alarmed eyes on me, "Cole, what are we going to do?"

"We're gonna see if I just sent Warfang into a madhouse for nothing," I muttered. Part of me hoped that I had. Suddenly there was another flash and the whole volcano exploded.

"RUMBLER, SHIELD!" I screamed, thrusting my hands out. We only had seconds, but that was all we needed. A thick wall appeared around us, protecting us from the shrapnel from the exploding volcano. I put pressure on the wall and it became shiny and almost transparent.

"Cole, is that _diamond_?" Rumbler gasped, his mouth hanging open.

Suddenly a piece of the volcano hit our shield. It made a hell of a bang, so much so that I thought the shield had been broken, but it didn't reach us. The shield of diamond didn't budge. That went on for hours, bits of rock and hardened lava striking the shield with deafening bangs. Finally, stuff quit falling from the sky and a fine layer of ash began to fall upon the land. I broke the shield, with more force than I had intended. Both halves of the shield went flying like bats out of hell. I cringed.

Then we saw the dragon.

The monolithic giant was heading in the general direction of Warfang. For its size, it was pretty fast.

"Oh shit. Rumbler, do you think we can outrun it?" I asked.

Rumbler looked at me like I was crazy. Then I saw his determined look.

"We can sure as hell try."


	18. Chapter 18 The meeting

Rumbler and I made a week journey in about half an hour. It took a lot of trial and error, but I figured out how to phase. We finally popped up inside my house.

"Rumbler," I groaned, "get out of the way, I don't feel so good."

I popped my helmet's visor up and threw up out the window.

"Shit, Cole!" Rumbler yelped, alarmed and disgusted, "What was that about?"

I looked up at him with a pale face, "Hm? Maybe travelling five hundred miles in a few minutes."

His face softened a bit, "You ok? You look like hell."

"I'm just hungry," I muttered, wincing and holding my stomach, "want some deer?"

"Yeah, I guess."

I got the biggest I could find. We probably ate about five pounds each.

"We should find Spyro and Flash," I suggested once we had finished. I felt a bit better now, with something in my stomach.

"Agreed," Rumbler stood up, "let's go."

We headed for the temple, unsure how much time we would have before that huge dragon would reach Warfang. As we neared the temple I yelled out, "SPYRO!"

The purple dragon came running out, his face a mask of shock.

"Cole?" he looked like he couldn't believe his eyes, "Cole, you're not dead?"

"What," I grinned, folding my arms, "trying to get rid of me?"

"No, but we saw the flash and the huge dragon…" Spyro trailed off, looking pale.

"Spyro, you've know me for more than a year. I'm harder to get rid of than that. Now more so than ever," I said, pointing to my armour and my scaled body. The scales were completely covering my legs and most of my neck.

"Cole, you just keep getting stranger and stranger," Spyro said, shaking his head. Then his expression darkened, "How are we going to kill that dragon?"

"I have absolutely no idea," I admitted, frowning, "A direct attack won't work. It is just too big!"

"Hmm," Spyro murmured thoughtfully before turning back to the temple, "Well, come on in, you two. Like you've said, you have lived here for more than a year but you still haven't met the Guardians of the realm. I aim to change that."

"We…We get to meet the Guardians?" I stammered, shocked.

"Yes," Spyro beckoned with his wing, "Come on."

Inside the temple a small group of dragons were waiting for us, some of whom I had never seen before.

"Cole, I would like to introduce you to Flame and Ember," Spyro said, gesturing to two dragons, "The Fire Guardians."

Flame was a fiery orange and red dragon, while Ember was a delicate pink dragoness. She smiled, "Nice to meet you, Cole."

I bowed, "The pleasure is mine."

"The Earth Guardian, Tremor," Spyro pointed this time to a stocky green dragon that was bigger than he was.

"I'll give you this," the earth dragon said gruffly, eying me suspiciously, "You've got guts."

"Uh?" I hesitated, "Thanks. I think."

"Stella, the Electricity Guardian," The dragoness Spyro pointed to this time was electric yellow with bright blue wings and a long thin scar on her left side. She didn't look welcoming.

"So you're the one that tried to kill Spyro," she said icily. It wasn't a question. I could tell just from the look in her eyes that she wanted to kill me.

"I'm not proud of what I did," I murmured, looking away, "But since I've been back, I've done nothing but try to make things right."

"Crocodile tears," she said coldly.

"Stella, don't," Spyro protested calmly, "He isn't that same person."

"Sure," she muttered, not taking her eyes off me. Spyro shook his head with a sigh.

"And finally, Candice the Ice Guardian," He pointed to the icy blue dragoness.

I took one look at her, glanced at the Earth Guardian and said, "You're in love with Tremor, aren't you?"

She looked stunned, "H-How did you know?"

"The way you look at him," I replied simply. The ice dragoness seemed to bristle slightly.

Spyro must have known that if I kept talking, something bad would happen. Rumbler noticed it too.

"Anyway Cole," the earth dragon interrupted quickly, "why don't you introduce your team?"

"Guys, come in," I called, turning around. Somehow I had known they were there, just waiting for an invite to join us.

They entered together. Now there were twelve very strong dragons in the room. The energy in the air was making my hair stand on end.

"This is Gust, Rumbler, Flash and Specter," I said, introducing my teammates. I noticed that Flash was eyeing Stella and made a mental note to talk to him later, just to make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Nice to meet you all," Ember said warmly with a bow.

"Like wise," Gust responded, cool and collected as always, not the least bit intimidated.

Specter on the other hand was looking at Tremor, a strange look in her eye, "Cole? Something isn't right with that one."

"How so?" I mumbled back.

"He has two auras," she murmured, frowning.

"Two? How can he have two?" I asked, confused. Then I looked again at the earth guardian. For a moment I was seeing a double image. Almost.

"Gust? You see that?" I hissed, not taking my eyes off the shadowy, transparent figure of a green dragoness beside Tremor.

"Yeah, I see it too."

"My name is Gaia," the transparent dragoness said, her voice echoing, "and I've been dead for five years."

"What?" I was very confused and a little scared.

Her ghostly transparent eyes met mine, "I am a ghost."

Then she disappeared and my mind was left running in about ten different directions. Everyone else was looking at me, but my thoughts were whirring around so erratically that I hardly noticed.

"Ok, time to leave," I gabbled, "Bye."

And I fled from the temple.


	19. Chapter 19 Battle plans

It had taken me a few hours to calm down from that encounter. Specter and Gust had been looking for me in that time, leaving Flash to flirt with Stella. Rumbler stayed with him, making sure that nothing happened to either of them. Hours later, I headed back to the temple.

I didn't have my helmet on so I looked pretty strange now that the scales had started to grow under my hair. It was such a weird feeling and must have looked even weirder. Specter and Gust were brainstorming in front of the temple.

"Where the hell is he, Specter?" I heard the wind dragon mutter.

"I don't know," Specter sighed, "When he doesn't want to be found, even I can't find him."

"Find who? Me?" I asked as I approached. They both jumped.

"Cole!" Specter yelped, "Where were you?"

"No idea," I shrugged, "I just woke up in my bed."

"Cole, you had better go and get Flash," Gust interrupted gravely, "before he does something we all regret."

"Good idea," I replied. The electricity dragon was well known for his rash decisions. But when we entered the temple, we saw something that shocked me more than Gaia had. Flash and Stella were talking – they were talking normally, like old friends that had met after a long time apart. I stared.

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow, "Rumbler, what did we miss?"

"Well," Rumbler looked from the pair of electricity dragons to me and said simply, "Flash and Stella like each other."

All three of us stared, "Wow."

I looked at Spyro, "Sorry about earlier."

"That's ok," the purple dragon didn't seem unduly concerned, "At least you weren't in denial." For a brief moment I saw Candice look down, as though in shame, before she regained her cocky and proud composer. Perhaps I had imagined it.

"Ok, now that I'm back, how the hell are we going to kill that dragon?" I had slipped instantly into mercenary mode.

"With an army?" Flame suggested.

"No," I shook my head, "it's just too big. Unless… How many fighters do we have?"

"Counting us?" Spyro thought for a moment, "Just over one hundred."

"How far away is the dragon?" I continued.

Flash piped up, "About fifty miles."

"Ok," a plan was quickly forming in my head, "we should set up the catapults and…and?"

I trailed off suddenly as my head began to hurt. It wasn't a normal headache – it was something entirely different, something I wasn't familiar with. It felt as though something was constricting my mind. My vision began to blur.

"What, Cole?" Spyro demanded, confused by my sudden silence.

The world spun in front of my eyes, whirring into a blinding mess of colours. I couldn't think.

'_Kill him,'_ I heard in my head. '_Kill him.'_

Spyro was staring at me, confusion and concern on his face. My vision focused on him and only him. I felt my arms begin to move of their own accord, as though guided by some unseen force within my body. I opened my mouth.

"Sorry, Spyro."

I, no, _it_ drew my swords and lunged at the purple dragon.

"Cole, STOP!" Spyro screamed in alarm, jumping backwards to avoid my blades.

I tried to stop my body from moving, I really did, but I could do nothing to stop it. All I could control was my mouth and even that took great effort. I lunged at Spyro again, swords raised, despite my efforts to fight it.

"SPYRO!" I gritted out, with an accompanying strike that he avoided, "I'M. NOT. IN. CONTROL!"

'_SILENCE_!' I recognized that voice, but I wasn't sure where from. It was deep, dark and ancient, and it seemed to echo from within my own head.

Suddenly I felt something hit my chest and drill through my armour. A sharp pain began to grow in that spot, a pain that I recognised as electricity. Spyro, Stella and Flash were trying to paralyze me. It worked for a few seconds and then I felt a huge blow hit me square in the chest. Everything went black.

When I came to, I could no longer feel that force that had been controlling my body. I was back in control. But then I realised I couldn't move.

"He's awake!" someone cried. Spyro and Cynder were looking at me.

"Cole, is that you?" Cynder asked gently, warily.

My mind and vision were blurred, so my answer sounded like this, "Cynder. Think. I'm. Control. In."

"Cole, you ok?" Spyro asked as I struggled to speak.

I didn't want to make myself look like an even bigger idiot than I already looked, so I just shrugged.

"Cole!" Gust ran over looking worried and came into my line of vision. My vision was slowly coming back into focus.

"Damn, I thought I hit you too hard," the wind dragon sighed, sounding relieved.

"You hit me?" I mumbled with a dazed grin, my thoughts also coming back into focus, "I thought that was a dragonfly."

"Yep, that's him," Gust grinned, "Ok, Spyro, let him up." Spyro looked like he was about to argue, but seemed to decide against it. He stepped away and I sat up slowly.

"Where is it?" I asked instantly, remembering the threat to Warfang, jolting my thoughts back into mercenary mode. It took Spyro about three seconds to respond.

"About thirty miles north of Warfang."

"North?" I questioned, surprised.

"Yes, but it is still headed this way," Spyro explained with concern, "It'll be here some time tomorrow."

"Set up the catapults," I said instantly, remembering my plan, "We will strike first. And we will win. Spyro, we need an army."

The purple dragon took one look at my face and knew that I was serious.

"SIR! YES, SIR!" he barked. We burst out laughing.

We would win this, no matter what.


	20. Chapter 20 First strike

"Cole, we are staying with you!" I had asked my friends to stay with the archers. As was to be expected, they were less than pleased.

"Listen to me!" I begged, "Rumbler and I aren't any good at ranged and you guys aren't the best at melee. This is the best way for us to do things!"

Flash was about to say something, but Gust beat him to it, "He's right. I don't like it, but he's right."

Specter looked at me and Rumbler, "I'm not going to say goodbye. Just…good luck. Both of you."

Rumbler and I headed to where Spyro had gathered the army. The purple dragon looked up to greet us.

"Cole, you wanted an army? Well, here it is," he spread a wing towards the crowd. There were just over one hundred dragons, including Spyro and the Guardians.

"Told Cynder to stay behind, did you?" I asked him, noticing her absence.

"Yeah, you did the same," Spyro muttered. I couldn't argue with that.

A cheetah scout came running. He was bloody and I think most of it was his. "Bad news!"

I looked at him, "What happened?"

"The dragon isn't coming. But the Dark Army is," he replied gravely. My stomach did a back-flip at this unexpected news.

"How many?" I asked, keeping my cool.

"At least ten thousand."

My mind was reeling to come up with a new plan. This was bad. "Shit!"

"Cole! Now what are we going to do?" Spyro yelped, his eyes desperate.

"Evacuate the city," I replied gravely, "We don't need them in harm's way."

The scout piped up, "I'll spread the word." He ran off into the streets.

"Dammit! Now what are we going to do?" I'd never seen Spyro like this. He was angry…angry and worried.

"We fight," I replied, keeping my voice steady, "and win."

"We have to tell them," Spyro sighed, "Everyone."

"I agree," I strode to the head of the dragon army, spreading my arms to attract their attention.

"Everyone! The army headed our way is over ten thousand strong. If you leave now, no one will think any less of you," I paused for a few seconds, "I can't promise that all of you will be here when this is over. I can't promise that any of us will. But you're the strongest warriors of this age. WE! WILL! WIN!"

The warriors cheered with me. I heard one of them yell, "LET'S KICK SOME ASS!"

A sentry came running, his eyes panicked, "They're less than five miles away!"

"Positions!" I roared, "Form Ranks!"

There was a flurry of motion as the warriors set up ranks. Spyro, Rumbler and a metal dragon took point alongside me as the Dark Army darkened the horizon. For a moment there was only silence. Then I drew my swords and charged them.

The front line was made of wolves. Thank god they weren't the mutants. My army charged behind me. "GIVE 'EM HELL!"

The first wolf I cut in half. At six feet tall I could look them in the eye. Spyro was shooting purple energy beams that ripped the wolves apart. Rumbler was shooting massive earth shots. The metal dragon had encased himself in a ball of metal and was crushing the wolves as he rolled. Then I heard a howl that made my blood run cold.

There must have been fifty of them – the mutant wolves.

"OH SHIT! SPYRO! WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM!" I roared over the sound of battle.

He turned his attention to the mutants and yelled, "ON IT!" His voice was distorted by the screams of war.

"AIR RAID!" I yelled, and at least twenty-five fire dragons came soaring over my head. They started dropping fire bombs on the army, sending the wolves into disarray.

And so it continued for what seemed like hours. Maybe it really was hours. I had made hypos of the green gem mix. I had started with twelve and now I only had five. The metal dragon had been killed sometime during the battle. I hadn't seen how, but now he lay in a bloody heap on the battlefield. I looked at him.

"Sorry buddy, you were one hardcore son-of-a-bitch," I memorized where he was, determined to come back for his body. Then I realized I didn't even know his name.

"THEY'RE RETREATING! WE'VE WON!" I don't know who it was that yelled. Maybe it was Spyro, or some other dragon.

At first I didn't believe it was true. But as the dark army began to retreat, I realised it was. I picked up the metal dragon and began the walk back to Warfang. When I got to the field outside of the wall, Spyro and Rumbler were already there.

"COLE! Thank the ancestors you're alive!"

"Yeah, but he wasn't so lucky. I don't even know his name," I looked down at the dragon in my arms. Somehow, in death, he seemed smaller.

Spyro knew who he was, "His name is Sharps."

I was exhausted, but I went out to the battlefield. There I lay Sharps' body with the others that had fallen there. Too many dragons died today. Too many heroes.


	21. Chapter 21 Fallen Heroes

It was the day after the battle and we were getting causality reports.

"Cole, we lost fifty seven dragons," That revelation hit me like a bullet.

"Over half of our force…" I was in shock. I felt cold inside and out.

"I know Cole. I know," Spyro murmured gently.

"So many families that will never see their loved ones again…" I whispered, "All my fault."

"Cole, if it wasn't for you, Warfang wouldn't be here now," Spyro insisted. I knew he was trying to make me feel better. He had a point.

I swallowed "How many wounded?"

"None."

That surprised me, "None?"

Spyro looked away, his eyes sad, "They had coated their blades in poison."

A chill ran down my spine. "One scratch and you're dead," I whispered.

"Cole, the troops want know if there is going to be a funeral." It surprised me that he'd even asked.

"Of course," I responded. Of course there would be. It was the least they deserved.

"When?" Rumbler asked, coming up beside me.

"Today," I muttered, "We don't know if there is going to be a counter attack. It's best we do it soon."

I looked at my earth dragon friend, "Rumbler? You and Spyro start making the graves. I'll make the statues."

Spyro looked anxious, "Cole, you need sleep. You don't have to do this."

I looked Spyro in the eyes, "I'll sleep when this is over. It isn't just for me. This will calm my ghosts."

I took out one of the hypos and injected it into my arm. I knew I was getting close to my limit, but as soon as I did so, I felt instantly awake. I went outside and began calling up massive amounts of coloured diamond and shaping it to the shape of the dragons. I had fifty seven to make. This would be a long day.

When I was finished, I called up a pure black, ten-foot slab of diamond. On it, I put the names of all that fought in this horrible battle. I put Spyro, Cynder, the guardians, and then all of the warriors. And last, at the bottom, I inscribed the names of me and my group. I took one of the hypos and stuck my arm, but I didn't feel any better. It was all just too much.

"Cole? Cole? Cole, wake up!" A voice penetrated my thoughts and brought me back to reality. My eyes snapped open. I wasn't sure if I had been sleeping or not. A red dragoness was watching me anxiously.

"Hi, Specter," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

"Cole, are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah," I stared at the line up of statues I had created, "Just tired."

Specter also looked at the statues. Her eyes looked sad, "Did you make these?"

"Yes. Are the dragons ready?"

She nodded, "Yes, Spyro told me to find you."

I didn't have my armour, so I took off my shirt instead. My chest scales were all scratched up.

"Well, now I know what their swords were made of," I muttered, running my hand over the scratches.

Specter blinked, "What?"

"Diamond," I growled. Only diamond could be strong enough to scratch these scales.

"Cole, if you want help…" Specter hesitated, her eyes on the statues. But I shook my head.

"No, I'll do it." I wanted to do it myself.

I called on what energy I had left to lift the statues and the engraved plate. The graveyard was just outside of Warfang and every dragon in the city was there. That was just over five hundred faces staring at me. I can face those wolves without a care, but crowds? Not so much. In front of them my mind froze, so I made it up as I went along. I think I did better than I thought I would.

"We're all here for one reason – to honour the fallen heroes and those who faced hell and came back," I looked at Rumbler and Tremor, "Guys, I'm going to need your help."

"What do you need?" They asked. It was a spur of the moment idea, but they agreed none the less.

"We created these statues for the fallen," I called to the crowd as I laid the statues in a circle, one in front of every grave, "As well as this memorial to celebrate the peace that their sacrifice will bring."

Together, Rumbler, Tremor and I used all of our power to call up a massive dome of clear diamond. The crowd was silent for a moment. I wondered what they all were thinking. Were they all as guilty as I?

"Bring the fallen," I sighed at last.

Spyro, Cynder and the families of the dead left briefly. They returned, each carrying a casket. And in every casket I knew there was the body of a fallen hero – a loved one who would never again see the sunrise.

"And may they stay forever with our ancestors," I finished softly.

One by one they were lowered to the ground, to their final resting place.

Two hours later, when the families had finished saying goodbye, I felt like the walking dead. When the last dragon left, I dropped. I was asleep before anyone even noticed I fell. Gust ran up to me, but Spyro stopped him.

"Let him sleep," the purple dragon said. His eyes were sunken with sadness. Gust didn't argue.

That night I slept amongst the dead.


	22. Chapter 22 Controll

When I woke up, I was still in the memorial. So was everyone else.

"Finally awake?" Rumbler looked worried as he stared down at me.

"I think so," I muttered, raising a hand to my head, "How long was I out?"

"Almost three days."

"Wow." It was then that I noticed something. Everything looked and smelled a lot sharper, as though someone had just flicked a switch in my brain.

"Huh?" I went over to one of the graves, being careful not to step on the spot where the casket was. My distorted face was reflected back at me in the glossy headstone. I was completely covered in scales. My eyes looked like Spyro's. But mine were gold, like a cat's. I focused on my face and decided my features hadn't changed – just that they were covered in scales.

"Welcome to the family," Cynder said dryly as she came up behind me.

"Is this the way you see?" I wondered, "Everything is so sharp, so strong."

"Yes."

"What is that smell?" I asked her. It was a sweet, strong smell. I'd never noticed it before.

"That, Cole," she replied, "is the smell of magic."

"This is amazing," Then I got an idea. I started breathing fire!

"Cynder! It doesn't hurt! It doesn't hurt!" I was ecstatic. It was a wonderful feeling, not having to force my powers anymore. I could just let them flow, like it was natural.

"That's great, Cole, but please settle down," She sounded scared. A second later I knew why.

The air around me was glowing. I knew what was about to happen and I quickly phased out of the memorial. As soon as I phased back, away from the memorial, the fury erupted. It was amazing – the fire formed close to my skin and then shot away. There was a flash and one hell of a boom. The next thing I knew, I was at the bottom of a glass crater.

Spyro came flying, his eyes wide, "COLE! YOU OK?"

I had a big goofy grin, "NEVER BETTER!" I crawled out of the crater. "MAN, that was close!" The adrenalin finally stopped pumping and I slowed down.

"Man, that was close," I repeated quietly, staring at my claws.

"Yeah, it was," Spyro was staring at me, "Cole, what's up with your eyes?"

"They're sharper, more focused. But every thing has a black tint," I frowned, "It's hard to see colours."

"You have dragon eyes now," Spyro explained, understanding, "I've always seen with a purple tint."

"Maybe I could ask Cynder how to tell colours apart," I mused. She must see with the same black tint I did.

"Yeah…Hey, Cole, can you run?" At his words, I took off running

"Hey, no fair!" Spyro soared after me.

Apparently I wasn't just growing scales. I was running faster than I ever had before. I looked behind and saw that I was stirring up a dust trail. Within seconds, I arrived at the wall and waited. About ten seconds later, Spyro arrived.

"You're late," I smirked.

He looked at me, "You're early. You're fast."

"You're right."

Spyro was out of breath. He was a major endurance player, but racing me for three miles in ten seconds seemed to have worn him out.

"Cole, do you want to see Cynder now?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied, surprised, but then I saw why he had asked. The black dragoness was approaching.

"Spyro? Cole?"

"Hi, Cynder," We said in unison.

"Cole, what the hell was that about?" she looked a little annoyed.

"No idea," I shrugged, trying to look innocent.

Cynder didn't buy it, "Did you pull a fury?"

"Yeah," I grinned, "It was amazing."

"Ok, Cole, you're coming with me," her request surprised me. What did she want?

"Where?" I asked sceptically.

"The dojo," she replied shortly.

"Why?"

A strange glint appeared in her eyes, "We're teaching you how to control that power of yours."

"That…could be useful," I agreed. So we headed off to the dojo for a bit of training. After that fury before, I was pretty psyched up.

Cynder paced in front of me in the dojo, "Ok, Cole, I need you to pull as much power as you can into an aura around you. Give it a try."

I did as she asked, concentrating with all my might. The air around me started to glow. I could feel power flowing in my veins.

"Good. Now hold it as long as you can," Cynder instructed.

I found it was a little like trying to stop a flood. It was difficult, really difficult…but it wasn't impossible. The energy built up around me until I couldn't hold it any longer. I let it go in a burst of energy that threatened to set the floor on fire. My scales were smoking. Cynder looked pleased.

"Good job, Cole. I'd say you're in control. Now go home and get some sleep. You'll need it."

She was right. I was thinking that I shouldn't be tired, but those furies had taken a ton of energy and I had done two in a single day. I missed my bed.


	23. Chapter 23 Legacy

When I woke up, there were two young dragons sleeping in my room. Just by looking at them I could tell they were twins. One was silver, the other was bright orange.

The silver one raised his head, "Good morning."

"Uh? Hi," I considered them for a moment, confused, "What are you doing in my room?"

"Waiting for you," the orange dragoness said.

"Ok…" I still had no idea why these young dragons were here, "What are your names?"

"My name is Kia," she replied.

The silver dragon spoke up, "My name is Comet."

They looked familiar, but I was certain that I had never seen them.

"Who are your parents?" I asked them warily. Perhaps I knew them. Or had known them. To my dismay, their faces fell.

"Our dad's name was Sharps," Comet whispered.

My heart dropped and nearly stopped. My body suddenly felt a whole lot colder.

"I'm…sorry," I gave them both a hug. I wasn't sure what else to do. They were only young – ten years old at most.

"I can't change the past," I told them. Somehow I felt guilty, "but I can help your future."

They stared at me, "How?"

"Easy," I gave them a smile, "I'll train you."

Their faces adopted the big goofy grin that all young ones have, "THANK YOU!"

On our way to the dojo, Spyro found me. He considered my two new pupils with interest,

"Hey, Cole. Who are they?"  
"This is Comet and Kia," I leaned close so they couldn't hear, "Spyro, they are Sharps' kids."

His face darkened at the mention of the late metal dragon, "I can see the resemblance. Are you training them?"

"Yeah, but I'm no teacher," I muttered to him, "You, on the other hand..."

Spyro took the hint with a sigh, "Ok, Cole, I'll help."

When we got to the dojo, I remembered something kind of important. Ok, so it was very important. At least I remembered it.

"What are your elements?" I asked them.

"Quicksilver," Comet said.

"Freezing Flames," Kia piped up. I looked at Spyro. He just shrugged.

"Ok, never heard of them," I admitted. Seems Spyro hadn't either, "So just show us what you can do." I summoned two rock dummies. Comet and Kia stared warily at them.

"It's ok," I assured them, "They won't attack. Just hit them with your breath."

They did. Comet went first. His breath looked like a shiny silver poison.

"Wow, Spyro, will you look at that," I muttered, awed. Then I felt something hit my chest. A splash of quicksilver…it started to burn. I forced ice on it then I looked down. Some of my black scales were charred.

"Spyro," My eyes were wide, "his quicksilver burnt right through my scales."

Spyro looked at my chest and his jaw dropped. Nothing had been able to do that before.

"Ok, Comet, stop," I ordered. He ceased his efforts and I saw that the dummy was covered in quicksilver.

"Wow," I muttered, "Ok, now you, Kia."

She began breathing blue flames. The dummy froze as though it had been ice, then melted into a puddle. I'd never seen anything like it.

"Ok..." I considered them both, "Well, you two are powerful. But I have absolutely no idea how to train you. Spyro?"

"Sorry, but I've got nothing," Spyro shook his head apologetically. The twins looked down, disappointed.

"Don't worry. I will find some way to train you," I promised.

At that moment, Cynder came running into the dojo looking scared. That alone got me worried. She never looked scared.

"They're back!" she gasped out.

"SHIT!"

"Spyro, get your armour on and meet me at the main gate!" I yelled, already headed for the exit to the dojo.

"On it!" I heard Spyro call as I took off running for the gate. When I got there I grabbed a cheetah scout.

"How did they get here so fast?" I demanded.

"I don't know, sir!" the scout yelped and I released him.

Knowing there was little time, I started yelling orders to the dragons that had already reached the gate. The dark armies shrouded the field outside in a mass of shadow. There was nothing else for it. I ran out of the gate and drew my swords.

Looking back, that wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done. I had left my armour in my house.

"ATTACK!" I charged the Dark Army and summoned a shroud of shadow mist around me. I could hear the dragon army thundering behind me. At least I knew I wasn't alone.

As I ran to meet the army, I noticed something. The ranks were full of grublins and mutant wolves. They must have been getting desperate if they were sending those in. I met the ranks with a roar, using one of the hypos and unleashing a massive fire fury. It took a good chunk out of the army.

Spyro suddenly soared in, shooting energy beams at the army. Fire, earth, ice and lightning shot from his maw and sent the grublins packing.

"Having fun?" I yelled up to him.

"A blast!" He sent a massive wave of energy at the army, knocking several ranks back and incinerating both grublins and wolves. Suddenly, the world around us darkened as though the skies had just been smothered with clouds. But that couldn't have been the case.

"Spyro, what the hell is that?" I yelled, looking up.

"No idea," the purple dragon gasped. A massive shadow had blocked out the sun. And then I heard a roar that shook me to my very bones.

"SHIT! Spyro, we've got a problem," A very big problem.

Spyro whispered, "No kidding."


	24. Chapter 24 The big one

"No kidding."

The huge dragon landed, sending the Dark Army scattering to avoid his huge claws. He was so heavy that it sent shock waves through the ground. I jumped the first one, but the second one hit me full force. I was sent flying at a speed so fast that, if I hit anything, my whole body would shatter. Then, I suddenly stopped in mid air.

I remember thinking, '_How?_' What had stopped me? There was a strange feeling in my shoulders, like something was there that shouldn't be. Craning my head around to look, I saw jet black wings with red membranes. My wings.

"Amazing," I didn't know how to fly, but I didn't need to know. I just angled myself down and shot towards the massive dragon.

"Spyro!" I roared. The purple dragon looked down to the ground below him, looking for me. But I wasn't there. He looked up, eyes wide.

"Cole? How?" he asked, awed.

"No idea," I replied truthfully.

An idea struck me and I infused my voice with the element of fear to make it louder.

"AIR RAID!" I screamed over the sound of battle. The remaining dragons took to the sky at my call. Then the catapults and cannons fired. The flaming balls hit the huge dragon in the side, damaging his thick scales.

"Now!" At my signal, all of the dragons dive-bombed the dragon alongside me.

"FIRE!" We rained hell upon it. I tried to send a fireball, but it formed around me in the shape of a dragon instead. The heat it gave off nearly made me go supersonic. I wasn't sure what was going on.

The fire blasts from the other dragons blew a hole through the massive dragon's chest. I dove into the monolithic monster, covered in flames, igniting the thing from the inside out. As I powered through the massive dragon, my wings folded tightly to my back, my swords spun in front of me like propeller blades. The speed drove me through the dragon and out the other side, where I slammed into the ground.

It roared so loud that I thought my eardrums had burst. It was only one that had burst, but it hurt like hell. The huge dragon wobbled and fell, its great limbs unable to hold it up any longer. I couldn't move to avoid it and it crash right on top of the hole I had made in the ground. I was trapped. Trapped by a dead dragon.

"SPYRO!" I screamed, panicked, but then forced myself to calm down.

"It's ok, Cole. It's ok," Yes, I was talking to myself. At least it helped.

I had just enough room to grab one of my hypos – this one was purple. I drained it into my arm and felt the raw power erupt. This one was the mother of all furies. It was a pure form of the fear element, better known as Sound. The rock around me, and the dragon above me, just started to vibrate. Then, suddenly, it was gone. Vaporized. One second it had been there, the next it was only dust. I was shaken but awed.

"COLE! WHERE ARE YOU?" That was Spyro. He sounded worried. I held my arm up and my wing followed suite.

"Well," I mused to myself, noticing that when I moved my arms, my wings moved simultaneously, "That will be useful."

"Man!" Spyro stared at me, his eyes fixed on my new wings, "Wow, Cole, what's next? Going to grow a tail?"

"Good question," I grinned sheepishly.

I energized my voice again, "WE'VE DONE IT! WE'VE WON!"

The cannons fired rounds that exploded into colours in the sky. I did the same. The Dark Armies had fled.

"Come on, Spyro, have some fun!" I laughed, suddenly feeling very giddy and light-headed. We'd won!

Spyro considered me with a worried eye, "Uh, Cole? Do you feel ok?"

"Yeah, I feel great!" I replied. Spyro seemed worried. My smile dropped, "What is it Spyro?"

Then I fell. My legs just gave out. I wasn't sure why.

"HELP! I NEED HELP!" Spyro was yelling. He caught me, but I knew something was very wrong. Two other dragons arrived and helped carry me to Warfang.

"Come on, Cole! Don't die on me now!"

I remember thinking, '_Die? I'm not going to die,_' just as my world went black.

When I woke up, I was in a strange place. I wasn't sure where I was or why I was here, or even how I got here. There wasn't much to see. Just…nothing.

"Hello?" my voice echoed eerily.

"Welcome, Cole," The voice that addressed me was ancient and harsh sounding.

"Who are you?" I called into the nothingness, wary.

"Who, me?" said a kindly young female voice.

"Or me?" asked the old voice.

"Both," I replied shortly.

"My name is Ghost," said the young voice.

"My name is Stago," said the old.

"Nice to meet you, I guess," I muttered, looking around, "Now where am I?"

Their voices answered me together, "The void between life and death."

That fact stopped my mind in its tracks.

"I. WILL. NOT. DIE." I growled. No way would I die. Not here. Not yet.

"No Cole, you won't," said the young voice softly, "But you need to be trained."

"How long?" I asked warily.

"Time has no hold here," murmured the old voice.

"How _long_?" I repeated, with a bite of anger. I didn't care who they were, I wasn't taking any shit.

"A week, possibly less," sighed Ghost, the young one.

"I can deal with that," I folded my arms.

"First, show us what you can do with those wings of yours," Stago, the old, sounded sceptical.

I moved my arms and my wings followed, "That's it."

There was a brief silence.

"Maybe a week and a half."


	25. Chapter 25 Awaking

"Cole, concentrate," Stago was starting to piss me off.

"I'm trying!" I snapped angrily, "They won't move unless I move my arms!"

"Cole, why don't you practice fighting first?" Ghost suggested. She seemed to have realised I was getting angry. She was right. I pretty much hated Stago at that moment.

"Thanks, Ghost," I sighed gratefully. I lit my hands and there was a sudden flash behind me.

"Cole!" Ghost's voice yelped. I jumped, surprised.

"What?"

"Your…your wings are on fire," she whispered.

My eyes shot open and my wings flapped. But, the thing is, I hadn't moved my arms. My wings had moved on their own! When they flapped, an 'X' of fire shot from me. That's when I realised: I could use my wings as focus points.

"Well," I couldn't resist a grin, "this could be useful."

Ghost spoke in an encouraging tone, "Well, Cole, I figured out why you aren't focused."

"And why is that?" I asked.

"You need to be with your friends," She said, and then added, "Goodbye, Cole."

"Huh?" I wasn't expecting that to happen so quickly. I wasn't really sure what she meant. But my vision had gone out of focus and the strange world around me vanished. My eyes refocused and I realised I was in a place I knew all to well – the healers.

"Cole!" A purple dragon was leaning over me.  
"Hi…Spyro."

"Damn, Cole, I thought we lost you," He muttered. I turned my head to look at him. I was lying on my stomach. My back hurt like hell.

"Spyro, Spyro, Spyro. How many times do I have to tell you? You can't get rid of me that easily. Now help me up," I didn't want to lie around here all day, despite the pain in my back.

"Cole, I can't…" Spyro insisted. I glared at him.

The purple dragon sighed, "Ok, I'll help you."

I spread my wings so that I could balance. Just from moving my neck, I knew this was going to hurt. Spyro was standing on his hind legs. He must have been eight feet tall.

"Dang, Spyro, you're taller than me," I'd never seen him stand on his hind legs before.

He smiled apologetically, "Cole, this is going to hurt."

"Your point?" I grumbled. I already knew that. It wasn't stopping me.

He just shrugged and grabbed my arm. It was funny; my black scales were getting the best of the mighty purple dragon. They were slick and slippery, hard to hold on to.

"Cole, you're one slippery… Uh, what are you?" I wasn't sure myself.

"Good question," I mumbled.

I know what you're thinking. Why wasn't I more concerned with my well being? The answer: I had more important things to worry about.

Soon I was standing with the help of my wings.

"Thank you, Spyro," I thanked him, "Now, first things first, we're going to see my friends. Where?"

"They're at your house," Spyro replied. So we headed to my house.

It was just over a mile away. By then my gem had healed me enough so that I could stand without my wings. I practiced moving them.

"Cole, what are you doing?" Spyro asked, cocking his head at me in confusion.

"Practicing," I replied shortly. Ghost was right about being around my friends. I found that the tips of my wings were some kind of living metal – harder than diamond and very sharp. Soon, my house came into view.

"Home Sweet Home," I smiled.

From inside the house I heard Gust yell, "COLE!"

He came running out and gave me a hug with his wings. Where they made contact on my back, it felt like acid. I tried not to wince.

"Hey, Gust, look at mine," I unfolded my wings. They were at least ten feet long each.

Gust stared, "Cole, that's amazing."

"Why yes, I am," I joked. Just then Specter, Rumbler and Flash came running.

"COLE!" They called, leaping towards me.

I was thinking, '_This is going to hurt_'. They gave me a hug at the same time, embracing me with their wings. I was right, it did hurt. I grunted slightly.

"Cole, you ok?" Specter asked anxiously, releasing me.

"Yes," I said through clenched teeth. Rumbler and Flash looked unconvinced.

"Time to go inside," I said quickly. I was hungry, anyway.

When things settled down, I found some meat and fried it. I finally decided to figure out what the hell had happened. I asked Spyro, because he seemed to have the answers. But it was Gust who answered instead.

"Cole, when Spyro brought you to the healer, you looked like a pin cushion," the wind dragon muttered dryly.

"How did I not feel this?" I asked myself, frowning.

"We don't know," my friends chimed together. Apparently I had said that out loud. I sighed. I'd had enough for one day.

"I'm tired," I told them shortly. There was nothing else to do but sleep. So I lay on my stomach, avoiding my aching back, and did just that.


	26. Chapter 26 The promise

The next day, I went to see Comet and Kia. As I had expected, their first reaction upon seeing me was shock.

"Cole…" Comet said in a hushed voice, "They said you were dead."

I smirked comically and replied, "I got better."

With a bit of a giggle and a look of relief in her eyes, Kia spoke up, "Hey, the warriors said that you can fly now. Can you?"

"Not really," I admitted a little sheepishly, flexing my newfound wings, "I can use them, but I can't fly. Yet."

They looked excited by that little piece of information. I guessed it was because they realised they could do something else that I couldn't.

"Cole, can we train?" they begged together suddenly, "Can we? Can we?"

I found myself overwhelmed by just two young ones, and unable to refuse.

"Yes. Now come on!" I took off running, but I wasn't heading to the dojo. I was heading to the main gate. As I tore through the city, I thought I might have lost my two followers. Maybe I was a little too fast.

"Hey, open it up!" I called at the guard at the main gate. He saluted me instantly.

"Yes, sir!" I wasn't sure how I felt about being called sir. Just then Comet and Kia caught up.

"Wow, Cole, you're fast," Comet panted. I looked at them and saw that they were out of breath. The scales on my chest were bent out, but I wasn't even hot. I guess I was too fast.

"Sorry. I'm used to racing Spyro," I apologised sheepishly. I'm not kidding when I say that if their colour had been the same, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. With my darkened vision, it was even harder.

"That's ok," Kia smiled.

"Now, come on," I said and led them out through the gates.

We went to a pasture around Warfang, a place with wide open spaces.

"We're here," I told them. To them, it must have seemed like just a random field. But I had brought them here for a reason.

"Ok," I said, folding my arms and pacing in front of them, "I've heard that twin dragons can combine powers. Can you?"

They looked at me for a second, and then nodded. Just as I had suspected.

"Ok, now hold on a second," I interrupted before they could give me a demonstration. We might be well away from creating damage to Warfang, but I needed protection too. Something told me their attack was going to be strong. I created a strong glass room around them, just to be careful.

"Now you may begin," I instructed.

Together the twins lay down side by side and began glowing. As they glowed, the colours of their scales swapped, with I thought was strange. The energy was starting to crack the glass. I held my arms out and my wings followed suit, wrapping myself in an armoured shell.

Suddenly, there was a tremendous bang and the glass shattered. I felt the shards bounce off my wings, but didn't harm me. When the shrapnel stopped flying, I uncurled myself from my protective cocoon. Where the twins were, there were now two full-grown dragons. The male had Kia's colour and the female had Comet's colour.

"Kia? Comet? That you?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yep. This is our power." They had the same voices, just louder, and they talked at the same time as though they were connected in mind and spirit.

"Now we fight, Cole," they said, voices echoing each other, "Don't hold back."

"Fine with me," I drew my swords and charged.

Half an hour later I was on the ground, panting.

"You – two – are – _strong_!" I gasped out. That was an understatement. They had kicked my ass. Suddenly there was a flash and they looked ten again, back to their usual forms.

"Thanks, Cole," Kia was smiling.

"How can you do that?" I asked curiously. I'd never seen an attack so powerful. The way they could combine their powers was amazing.  
"We don't know," Comet said with a shrug, opening his mouth to say more. But at that moment, I felt something come over me. Something uncomfortable and unwelcomingly familiar.

"YOU – TWO – GET – SPYRO!" I managed to grunt through gritted teeth as that same strange feeling from before washed over me. I couldn't move; I could barely talk. That cold ancient voice hissed in my mind.

'_You can't win_._'_

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" I roared in agony. It felt like a burning spike was being driven deep into my skull. Comet and Kia had fled almost instantly, no doubt to get Spyro as I had requested.

"COLE!" a familiar voice yelled in alarm.

The voice in my head hissed again, '_Finally the purple one comes_.'

"SPYRO, HELP!" I screamed, by vision blurring and going hazy. Through the haze, I saw Spyro freeze and then start to glow.

"Cole, this is going to hurt," he warned, but I didn't care. I braced myself the best I could; I was ready for anything. That is, except this.

Spyro sent an invisible wave that rippled the air like a wave of heat. It hit me with a bang and I felt the presence lift from my mind and be replaced by a lighter, friendlier one. For a moment I was stunned.

'_It's ok, Cole.'_

'Spyro?' I thought dazedly.

'_Yes, Cole you're safe now.'_ Then the wave disappeared and my legs gave out.

A feminine voice called out my name, "Cole!" Cynder had come to help Spyro.

"It's ok," I mumbled, holding a hand to my forehead, "I'm better now. Spyro, how did you…?"

"A little trick I learned from a wolf," the purple dragon replied mysteriously.

"Huh?" I blinked.

Cynder looked at me and said gently, "A tale for another time."

I was weak from the battle with the twins and wiped out from the…from the…I wasn't sure what it was. Next thing I knew, Spyro was carrying me. My body went limp as darkness crept into the corners of my vision.

"Goodnight, Spyro."

And my world went black.


	27. Chapter 27 Trust

When I woke up, I was in the room with the Pool of Visions. For a moment I thought I was alone, only the glassy surface of the pool to keep me company. Then I heard a gruff voice from somewhere beside me.

"Finally up?" It was one of the Guardians; Flame, I think.

"Flame? That you?" I asked, looking around for him. He sounded pissed.

"Yes, and if you go psycho again, I'm allowed to put you down," the Fire Guardian snarled, stepping out of the shadows so that I could see him. I was stunned, but I wouldn't let him know that.

"I'd like to see you try," I scowled, picking myself up from the cold ground.

"That's it!" Flame growled, lowering his head, "I'll show you!"

I snapped my wings out to their full span in response. Now I was nearly as big as he was and twice as wide. But before either of us could do anything, a shrill voice interrupted us.

"STOP! Flame, you hothead! For once in your life, think!" It was the pink dragoness.

"Ember, stay out of this," Flame ordered coldly as Ember moved towards him. With a quick glance from Ember to Flame, I blew a freezing wave at the Fire Guardian and froze him in a block of ice.

"FLAME!" Ember yelped in alarm and turned to me, eyes blazing.

"What? I just cooled him down," I said defensively, holding up my hands, "He's ok." "He better be."

"Settle down, Ember," said a new, calm voice. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally, someone talking sense," I muttered.

Spyro had entered the room.

I looked at him and said with a big grin, "Quite the hothead he is."

Spyro chuckled, "True. You just might have beaten some sense into him, though."

The block of ice that imprisoned Flame was melting surprisingly fast, steam rising from its transparent surface. Spyro grimaced, "Or not."

The ice around Flame's head had melted and he started yelling, "See? You should have let me kill him!"

Spyro looked at him, "Flame?"

"Yes, Spyro?" the Guardian grunted reluctantly.

"Shut up," the purple dragon said bluntly, "Come on, Cole."

"Where are we going?" I wondered aloud as we left the room, leaving Flame to angrily thaw himself out with Ember's help.

"To teach you to fly," Spyro replied simply. My eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Ok?" I wasn't sure about flying, but nevertheless I followed him. Spyro took me to a building that I'd never been to before. It seemed regular enough, but I wasn't prepared for what would meet me on the inside.

"Spyro, what is this place?" I asked as we stopped at the entrance.

"The air dojo."

"Oh. Sounds fun," I shrugged, following him in. What met my eyes amazed and astounded me. On the outside, it looked similar in size to the fighting dojo. On the inside, however, it was massive. It had to be at least one hundred feet tall and thirty feet wide. It blew my mind.

"Spyro, how?" I gaped, staring at the ceiling far above me.

"My secret," he winked. I decided to ask Cynder later.

"How are you going to teach me to fly?" I asked curiously, stepping into the centre of the room, still looking up towards the far away ceiling.

"Same way the little ones are taught," Spyro answered, padding over to me.

"And how would that be?"

"Just close your eyes and imagine that you're flying," he replied with a bit of a grin. I blinked. It seemed a bit far-fetched for me.

"Huh? Well… Ok." So I did, closing my eyes and picturing in my head the sensation of floating off the ground. Then a heard it – a slow flapping sound. I opened my eyes to see my feet were a few inches off the ground.

"Sweet!" I exclaimed, before I fell back to earth with a thud. "Ow."

Spyro was laughing his ass off, hardly able to stand in his mirth, "The mighty warrior can't even do what a hatchling can!"

"Ha-Ha," I muttered sarcastically, a little embarrassed, "I _was_ flying."

"I'll give you that," Spyro grinned, with a small cough as he tried to hold back his laughter, "you were."

I thought for a moment, flapping my wings experimentally and deduced aloud, "Any stray thought will make my wings stop."

"Then how did you fly in battle?" Spyro asked, suddenly serious again.

"In battle I'm completely single-minded," I told him, "Two steps ahead of everyone and always aware of the one in front of me. Like you've seen in battle, I'm a completely different person."

"Just like me," Spyro whispered.

"What was that?"

"Oh?" he jumped, startled out of his thoughts, "nothing."

"Well, Spyro, at least we know I can fly," I said, with a bit of a grin, trying to lighten the mood.

"True. But how will you fly normally?" he seemed worried by this.

"I won't need to," I replied, "I can run just as fast as you can fly, without even trying."

"How will you wear your armour?" was his next question. Clearly it wouldn't fit now that I had two huge wings attached to my shoulders.

"I guess that I'll just cut the back out," I said after a moment of thought.

Spyro frowned, "Cole?"

"Not all of it," I reassured him quickly, "just enough so that my wings fit out."

"Yes, but how will you fly?" Spyro pressed anxiously. I swear he was just trying to make me not cut the back out, not that I could blame him. It would leave me partially vulnerable, after all.

Just then, Cynder showed up. She padded across the dojo towards us, calling, "Did I miss anything?"

"No," I said quickly, just as Spyro said "Cole fell on his ass."

"SPYRO!" I yelled and began chasing him around.

"Hey, you two!" Cynder interrupted. Spyro stopped and I ploughed into him, tumbling over him.

When we got up, Cynder was laughing. We pretended not be embarrassed and said, quite defiantly, at the same time, "What?"

Then I heard the weirdest sound. It was kind of like the twang of a bowstring, but higher in pitch. Suddenly Cynder froze, as though she'd been turned to stone, and then fell like a broken doll.

"Cynder?" I stared. Right next to me, the same thing happened to Spyro.

"Spyro?"

Then I felt something hit my back and pierce my scales. My vision went blurry and my poison gem flared, but it couldn't fight off this stuff. I heard the beating of wings before I fell into blackness.


	28. Chapter 28 The Underdrome

**Chapter 28: The Underdrome**

Whatever had knocked me out had to have been some strong stuff. I was awake, but my mind wasn't working like it should have been.

"Spyro? Cynder?" I slurred. I sounded like I'd drunk too much. Yes, I've been drunk, but only once. Never again will I believe Flash when he says that it's only 'strong juice'.

"Finally awake?" It was a voice from my past; one I'd hoped to never hear again.

"Who wants to know?" I snapped, putting on my best 'don't-fuck-with-me' voice.

"The one who knocked out the three best warriors of this age," the voice gloated, a smirk in his tone.

"You're insane," I muttered bitterly. I was nearly certain who it was, now. I just hoped I was wrong.

"Why, thank you." said the voice delicately. My heart sunk.

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice still slurring slightly.

"Entertainment," said my captor, in an almost bored drawl, "You remember working for me? Welcome to my home: The Underdrome."

"What's your name?" I asked carefully. I was pretty sure I already knew.

"What?" his voice was laced with mock hurt, "After four years, you've forgotten one of your most valued customers?"

"Dammit, Nova! This isn't a game!" I snarled, my worst fears confirmed. Yes, I remembered Nova. We had captured dragons for him; many dragons. We didn't ask why; he didn't tell.

"I disagree," Nova said silkily, "that is exactly what it is."

"Ok, I'll play," I muttered, catching on, "with two rules."

"I'm listening."

"First, I fight with Spyro and Cynder," I looked around, expecting to see them, but saw only walls, "Second: we win; we leave."

Nova barely hesitated, "It's a deal."

His voice faded and quite suddenly the walls around me vanished completely. I was now standing in what looked like an empty field. So were Spyro and Cynder, I noticed, looking around.

"Cole, what's going on?" Spyro called to me, utterly confused.

"We're fighting for our lives." I replied darkly and said no more. They decided to ask later.

Suddenly a loud voice echoed all around us, "Round one! Dark Spyro and Dark Cynder!"

"What?" I yelped, but they had already appeared. Like phantoms they appeared before us, swathed in shadow. The 'Spyro' had pitch black scales and glowing white eyes. The 'Cynder' was much bigger than our Cynder, with poisonous yellow eyes.

"Spyro! Cynder, get Spyro!" I yelled to the real Cynder. I turned instead to Dark Cynder.

"Big mistake, little one," her voice made my blood run cold. This Cynder's voice was harsher and deeper, nothing like the Cynder I knew. I drew my swords and charged them and my wings with power.

"Bring it on, Bitch!" I took off, snapping my wings open and getting airborne.

"Get back here!" She shrieked in fury. I flipped in mid air and found myself right above her. Then I flapped my wings and sent a wave of burning fire down towards her. It was fuelled by rage and coloured murky orange. But it was hotter than hell.

The flames washed over her head, burning holes in her crimson wings. She screamed like a banshee and began to fall to earth. I turned in time to see Spyro and Cynder finish off his dark side. Then I heard a sickening crunch and knew that the Terror of the Skies was dead.

"You two ok?" I asked, hovering back down to earth. They looked shaken but unharmed.

"Just a few cuts and bruises," said Spyro, "what about you?"

"I'm fine." I said, before Nova's voice filled our ears once more.

"VERY GOOD! ROUND TWO! Malefor and Darkstar!"

"Should I energize?" I muttered as the two dragons appeared in front of us.

Spyro stared, "Um? Yeah, I'd say so."

"START!" Nova screamed.

Malefor went straight after Spyro, hardly even sparing me a glance. I heard his horrid voice hiss, "Finally my revenge."

Darkstar, on the other hand, was hell bent on killing me. She flew straight for me, screeching, "I've killed you before, I can do it again!"

But though she got in a few good hits, I struck harder. It took only minutes before her body fell to earth, lifeless for a second time.

"Now stay dead!" I growled, before something heavy smashed into my back and I fell to my knees.

"Sorry about that, Cole." Spyro muttered groggily, raising his head. Clearly he'd been thrown into me.

"Spyro, are you getting your ass kicked?" I asked, a little patronizingly.

"Yeah, I could use some help," he admitted. Cynder went flying past us, thrown by Malefor.

"Spyro, get her and cover your ears." I ordered, standing up.

"Why?" He asked. I pulled out one of my purple hypos and his eyes widened. "Oh. Give me a few seconds."

I put it in my arm and began charging my energy, while Spyro dashed towards a dazed Cynder.

"Now, Cole!" I heard Spyro roar, and I set my energy free.

I had been thinking of fire and sound. The result was pure hell on earth. The fire was moving in waves, energized by the element of sound. It struck Malefor with so much force that the dark purple dragon fell back with a despairing howl. As the fury dissipated I saw him for a split second. Nothing was left, not even bone. I won't tell you what I saw; that will be my own personal nightmare.

"Cole!" Spyro called. My ears were still ringing. "Man, what a blast!"

But we didn't have time to rest, before, "Very good! Round three!"

I felt my heart sink, "Now what?"  
Nova's voice screamed out gleefully, "Mammoth and The Golem!"


	29. Chapter 29 Never forget regret

**Chapter 29: Never Forget Regret**

"Spyro, this is bad!" I yelled, my clenched fists shaking. Any second now, our next two opponents would appear. And I was prepared to bet that this time we wouldn't be able to beat them so easily.

"No shit!" Spyro growled back, a note of panic in his voice.

"We have to get out of here!" I insisted desperately, without any idea how. Then I had a brainwave.

"Spyro," I said, hope colouring my tone, "I think I can phase us out of here!"

"Where are we?"

"About two hundred miles north of Warfang and thirty miles south of Boyzitbig," I replied automatically. Spyro stared, completely dumfounded as to how I knew this.

"I'll ask later," he said quickly, "just get us the hell out of here!"

"Grab on!" I yelled and they clutched at my arms as I began to glow. For a split second I saw the image of a huge, hideous creature that I assumed to be the Golem. It gave a terrible screech that pierced my eardrums. Then the world flashed around us and disappeared.

We popped up near the destroyed mole village near the base of the ruined volcano of Boyzitbig. Spyro and Cynder released me and I bent over, my hands on my knees as I got my breath back. We were safe, for now.

"Now what the hell was that about?" Spyro asked bluntly, moments later, "You seemed to know a lot about that place!"

"I really don't want to remember that part of my life," I murmured, straightening up and looking away. I felt Cynder's eyes on me and knew she understood how I felt.

"I know, Cole, but we need to know," she pressed gently.

I looked at Spyro, "Spyro, the three most important things anyone can have is love, compassion, and regret." Cynder bowed her head and stared at her feet, understanding. My voice was thick with bitterness, "I could kill you now and not feel any pain about it. Promise me, promise me, Spyro, that you will never become like me."

Spyro was stunned and stuttering, "C-Cole you…you can't mean that."

Cynder looked up, "Yes, he does, I'm afraid."

"Love is what shapes us, compassion is what shapes others around you, and regret is what makes us who we are. You wanted to know? Well, here it is."

_7 Years Ago_

We had left Warfang less than a month ago. The deaths of our friends and families had hit us hard, but we all had different ways of coping. Gust just didn't think about it. I don't know how he did it. Rumbler became as emotional as a rock. Flash became a clown, a joker, in his efforts to push the pain away. And Specter… to this day, I still don't how she coped or what she did to lessen the pain.

I steeled myself by showing love only to my friends. I became ruthless. We didn't have any food and we weren't good hunters, so we started raiding small villages, stealing food and gems. At first it was only enough for us to survive, but then we began to become greedy.

One time, a guard caught Specter stealing food. I was the only one with her. He was going to kill her. I went after him and started hitting and didn't stop. I had planned only to knock him out, but I killed him. His blood stained my hands. I made Specter promise not to tell the others. I said I would in time.

Every time I closed my eyes I saw his dead body and my bloody hands. Specter was able to put a block in my mind so the visions would stop. A few weeks later, we were approached by a fiery orange dragon. His name was Nova. He offered us food and a place to sleep. All we had to do was kidnap dragons for his Underdrome.

We accepted. We were assigned to 'recruit' fighters and guards. The first one was the worst. Specter was able to paralyze her, but couldn't stop her from talking. She was screaming about her family and kids. Her words hit like hammer blows.

After that, the screams meant less and less until that horrible day when I didn't feel anything at all.

Spyro was speechless. Cynder just looked sad.

"Cole, I'm sorry…" Spyro looked stricken. In his eyes, he had just made me relive a living hell.

"No, I needed to tell someone about that," I said, shaking my head.

"Cole, I know how you feel," Cynder said consolingly.

"I know that you do, Cynder," I looked at Spyro, "But I hope that_you_never EVER know what it feels like."

Spyro looked very concerned and whispered, "Cole, I've killed so many…"

"I know, Spyro, but they all were in self-defence," I assured him. I looked towards the horizon, towards where the Dragon City was situated, "Come on, we need to head out."

We began the journey back to Warfang, but Spyro trailed a little ways behind. I thought I heard him whisper.

"Not Gaul. Not Gaul."


	30. Chapter 30 Dont forget your past

**Chapter 30: Don't Forget Your Past**

Our trip back to Warfang wasn't as long as it usually would have been. Maybe because we were flying. Even as I flew, memories of my past continued to invade my mind.

_5 years ago_

It was my sixteenth birthday. Gust had made me a cake. Specter made me a journal. Rumbler and Flash performed a show for us. Rumbler would make a hollow ball of earth and Flash would fill it with lightning. Then Rumbler would toss it way up and the ball would explode. Sometimes it would only flash, but the grand finale was ten different balls that exploded into flashes that looked just like us.

The next day we got a hit. It was addressed to me personally. I was to be an assassin as well as a kidnapper. Assassin? Ha. Murderer is more like it.

The hit was on a young fair dragoness named Ember. That was the only hit I ever failed. I was given a poison arrow to do the job. I had released the arrow when she decided to duck for something. Instead of hitting her, it burrowed into the ground. She yelped and I scarpered. I'm glad now that I did.

We didn't get paid and we lost some of our legendary grandeur, but the future Fire Guardian lived to see another day. A little more than a month later, we got another hit. It was the same contact, but a different target. The target's name was Blackout. Once again, I was given a poison arrow. This time, I hit the target.

The poison, I soon found out, was a kind of acid. The arrow hit his chest and he screamed in agony. I just smiled, my thoughts on the money we'd get paid for completing this job. The acid ate away at his scales; it took him hours to die. That was the living hell that Ember would have faced.

Blackout was Darkstar's twin. I had made up my mind not to tell my group. That was the last time I felt anything after a kill.

"Cole?"

"Huh? What?" I blinked, looking around. We were hovering just above Warfang and Spyro was staring at me.  
"Were you sleep-flying?" he asked with a bit of a grin.

"I don't know." I admitted dully, my thoughts still on the memory I'd just relived. What would have happened, I wondered, if I hadn't missed Ember that day? She probably had no idea that I had been the assassin.  
"Well wake up, we're here," Spyro laughed as we descended down into the streets.

I made up my mind to tell Ember, "Spyro, where do you think Ember is?"

"Right now?" he seemed surprised, "I think she would be eating breakfast."

"Thanks," I turned away.

"Cole, what are you going to do?" Spyro asked warily, confused by my sudden need to see the pink dragoness.

I looked at him and said, "You ask no questions, I tell no lies."

They just watched me go, as I headed to the Temple. Spyro was right; Ember was eating.

When I walked in, a small mole approached me, "Sir, do you want anything to eat?" The 'sir' thing again, I noted with a bit of embarrassment. I wasn't used to being addressed like that. "No, I will later." I assured the mole and he left.

"Ember?" I asked, approaching the dragoness. She was sitting with Flame, I noticed.

She turned to look at me, "Yes, Cole?"

"I need to talk to you," I said bluntly.

"Ok," she stood up, and Flame got up too.

I glanced at the red dragon, "Alone."

"But..." Flame tried to argue, but Ember cut him off.

"It's ok, Flame," she said. He gave me a look that said 'mess with her and you die'. I gave him a reassuring look.

Ember took me to her room. Unsurprisingly, it was very pink.

"Ok, now what did you want?" she asked, and I looked away from the pink walls.

"First, I need you to promise not to kill me," I said hesitantly.

She looked taken aback, "Ok… I promise."

I took a breath, "Do you remember five years ago when an assassin tried to take your life?"

Ember's eyes widened and when she spoke, there was a dangerous tone in her voice "Yes. But how do you know?"

"Because _I_was that assassin," I told her as gently as I could, "I'm not proud and I'm glad I missed."

Ember was stunned. She just stared at me for several moments. I turned to leave, not wanting to overstay my welcome or hear her response. But even as I left her room I heard her call after me.

"Cole, wait!"

I sprinted away from her room, not wanting to hear it, and jumped out of the nearest window. Her room was about one hundred feet up. I fell for a while and, at fifty feet, I snapped my wings open. Not looking to see if Ember had seen, I turned and flew to my house. When I got there, no one was awake. I snuck into my room and shut the door. I hoped that I hadn't just signed my own death warrant.

"Where the hell have you been?" snapped a voice from behind me. I jumped and spun around. It was Gust and he was looking rather disgruntled. I sighed and resigned myself to explaining.

"Remember Nova?" I asked him, sitting down on my bed.

"Now there is a name I haven't heard in a long time," Gust muttered, "Why?"

"He kidnapped me, Spyro, and Cynder," I replied shortly, running a hand through my hair.  
"For a week?" Gust asked sceptically. That got my attention.

I stared, "Wait…a week? We were gone for a _week_?"

"Yeah, the Guardians were worried," Gust said softly. I sighed and looked out the window.

"I told Ember about the hit on her," I admitted to him.  
"You_what_?" Gust yelped.

"Possibly killed us all." I said blandly.

"What did you tell Spyro?" Gust asked warily, eying me.  
"Everything about our start."

"Your first?"  
"Yeah," I looked away, "I didn't want to remember, but they needed to know."

Gust sighed, "It's alright, Cole. You should get some sleep."  
"Goodnight, Gust."

The wind dragon strode out of my room with a final, "Night, Cole."


	31. Chapter 31 The Test

**Chapter 31: The Test**

When I woke up, it was around noon. And Flame was in my room. I shot upright, my heart hammering. Had Ember told him?

"Shit." I muttered under my breath. But Flame didn't look pissed, just curious.

"What did you want with Ember?" he asked, watching me closely.

I hesitated and said, "Ask her."  
"I did, and she told me that it was your story to tell," he seemed irritated that no one would give him a straight answer.

"What I said to her is between us," I sighed apologetically, "Sorry, Flame, but you can't know."

Considering how much of a hot-head he was, I was amazed to see him turn and leave with only the slightest of annoyed grumbles. Breathing a sigh of relief, I got up.

I decided to head to the dojo to practice and found Spyro there too. Only, he wasn't practicing. He was lying on the floor with a nasty cut on his head and mumbling something that I couldn't make out. I stopped in my tracks when I saw him.

"Spyro? You ok?" I called. But he was out for the count. Worried, I went over to pick him up, but ran right into an invisible wall. After recovering from the rebound, I tried to scratch at the invisible barrier with my wingtips, but it just gave off sparks. I was completely at a loss.

'_Not much time left for him,'_ said a voice. It seemed that damn voice in my head was back again.

"_Who are you?"_ I snarled in my mind.

'_You will learn in time,'_ said the voice coldly. I looked back at Spyro, anxiously watching a drop of blood roll down his face from the cut on his head.

"_How do I save him?" _I growled to the voice.

'_Defeat my guardian.'_

Before I could even begin to realise what the voice meant, I felt something hit my chest and send me flying. When I got up, shaking my head groggily, I found myself face to face with the mother of all wolves. This thing had to be at least twelve feet tall. I only gaped for a few seconds, before my instincts kicked in.

With a yell, I drew my swords and went supersonic, hoping that I could end this quickly. I charged forward and took a swing at the monster wolf's chest. But he grabbed my sword as easily as if I'd passed it to him. This was bad. I was moving at several times the speed of sound. How could it keep up?

"Shit!" I yelled and started shooting bolts of lightning at it.

They struck the hideous beast dead on, but did nothing. I was getting pissed. The lightning coursing through me turned electric blue. I fired another bolt, feeling the tingle all through my body. To my great satisfaction, this one had an effect. The wolf looked like it was just about to laugh at my efforts, when the bolt of blue lightning struck and exploded its lower arm. It howled in pain.

I jumped, covered myself in flames and dived towards it. But, to my shock, the flames vanished.

"What the hell!" I yelped, staggering backwards. Then I suddenly realised. I figured that this thing must have been an energy sponge. It was absorbing my elemental energy. And if I was right, then it must have a limit.

Although, if I was wrong, then I was fucked.

Throwing caution to the winds, I made a hollow ball of stone, filled it with white fire and covered it in poison and ice. I sent a massive wave of shadow at the beast and hurled the stone ball towards it with as much strength as I could manage. I sent a gust of wind and fear after it to speed it along.

The full force of my attack hit the beast square in the chest and exploded. I covered my eyes. When the flash subsided, the wolf was gone. There was nothing left but a burn on the floor where it had been standing. I let out the breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding and ran to Spyro. The invisible barrier was gone.

I dropped to my knees beside the purple dragon. He was alive, but only just, and fading fast. My hands shook angrily, "Dammit, Spyro, this world needs you!"

Acting quickly, I grabbed one of my red hypos and stabbed it into his chest. The effect was instant. Spyro jumped up with a wild look in his eyes.

"Spyro! Spyro, it's ok!" I yelled. He froze like he was trying to focus on something and his eyes met mine.

"Cole?"

"Yes, Spyro it's me," I assured him, "What happened?"

"I…I was looking for you," Spyro stammered, swaying on his feet, "I thought that you came here to train."  
"Lucky for you that I did," I said wryly.  
"No kidding," said the purple dragon.  
"Spyro, now it's your turn to explain," I insisted.

"The reason I was looking for you? Well, here it is," Spyro took a deep breath and said in rush, "I was making sure Flame didn't kill you."

I groaned, "She told you. Didn't she?"

"Yes, but…" Spyro looked worried, "I think that Flame heard."  
"I don't," I said bluntly.  
Spyro stared, "Why?"  
"Two reasons," I said, "First: I'm still alive. Second: when I woke up, he was in my room wanting to know what I talked to Ember about. The weird thing is, he took no for an answer."

"He what?" Spyro blinked.

"Later," I told him, "Right now, we need to get you the healers."  
Spyro started to protest, "But I'm fine." But no sooner had he said that, did he drop to the ground like a ragdoll.

I picked him up. He wasn't the biggest dragon around, but he was nearly as heavy as Sharps had been.

"And now we are even," I told him, despite knowing that he couldn't hear me.

When I got to the healers, I was ready to drop. Whoever had planned out this city hadn't thought it out properly. The dojo was on one side next to the wall; the Healer's was on the opposite side of the city.

I found Gust there, talking to his dad. He greeted me with a "Hi, Cole." But I didn't stop to chat.

"Later, Gust," I said. I felt bad, but Spyro needed help

They both looked at the dragon in question, "Cole, what did you do?"

Storm, that was his name, I remembered, looking at Gust's dad.

"I kept him alive," I muttered, "You need to fix him."

"Just lay him down," Storm said, gesturing. I did as he asked and left the infirmary, Gust right behind me. I was sure Spyro would be taken care of.

I glanced at the wind dragon as we walked, "You have no idea how lucky you are."  
"Huh?" Gust looked up at me, questioningly.  
"You still have a parent," I told him, "The rest of us? We only have each other."

"I know," Gust sighed, looking down.  
I hesitated, "Did you tell him?"  
"About what we did?" Gust's eyes were haunted with the memories of the past, "No, and I hope that I will never have to."  
"I second that." I said.

Together, we spent the rest of the day exploring our old city of Warfang.


	32. Chapter 32: 21 going 10

**Chapter 32: Twenty-one, Going On Ten**

The next day I tried to find Kia and Comet. The trouble was, I had never asked where they lived, they usually found me. I hoped that Cynder knew. I found her at the Healer's, watching over Spyro.

"How is he?" I asked her, coming up beside her.

"No change," she sighed. She looked as though she'd been crying all night.

"You know," I said, attempting to lighten the mood, "usually I'm down there and he's up here."

She turned and looked at me, her eyes tired and puffy, "Cole, I'm glad you helped him, but I want to be alone."  
"Ok," I didn't question her as I turned and left. When I got outside, I remembered why I went there in the first place. But I didn't want to disturb Cynder again, for a number of reasons. So I decided to just look for them.

I went to the market place first. It couldn't have been much later than five in the morning, but the moles were already setting up stalls. I went up to one of them, but he got in the first words, "You're the Commander. Aren't you?"

I had no idea what he was talking about, "Sorry, but I don't understand."

The little mole looked shocked, "The leader of the dragon army who beat back the Dark Army!"

So that was what they are calling me. The Commander. I sort of liked the title.

"Oh. Yeah, that's me," I said casually, "Listen, do you know the twins? Their names are Comet and Kia."

I heard a thunk. He had fainted.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked, surprised. Quickly, I made some water and splashed him with it. The mole came round with a start.

"Who? What?" he blinked and saw me, "Oh, sorry. The twins? They live in that house over there."

He pointed to a large house not too far away. It was slightly bigger than all the others around it. The mole was still staring up at me, like I was some sort of god. It made me uncomfortable.

"Thanks," I said quickly and tossed him a gem. I headed over to the house, knocked a few times, and waited.

"Yes? Who is it?" A female voice sounded. To my ears, she sounded a little stuck-up. I hesitated for a moment before I answered.

"A friend. Are Kia and Comet there?" I heard a crash and a bang from within the house. Then the door flew open and Kia jumped out at me. She caught me off guard and knocked me down. I landed on my back, pinning my wings to the ground.

"COLE!" the young dragoness cried joyfully, sitting on my chest.

"Hi, Kia, uh…can you get off me? You're squishing me," I grunted.  
She grinned and backed off me, "Sorry."

I stood up and saw a red dragoness standing in the doorway. She was eying me a little warily, like I was about to attack.

"Mom, this is Cole," said Kia brightly, "our teacher."

"Well, from the way they described you, I thought you were a shadow dragon," Kia's mum sniffed, still eying me off. I smiled disarmingly.  
"Nope. Not quite a dragon and more than shadow."

The red dragoness hesitated for a moment before she said, "Well, come in."  
"You sure?" I asked, surprised by the offer.  
But Kia's mum was insistent, "Yes, come in."  
"Thanks, where is Com-?" I started to ask, before the dragon in question slammed into my back. I hit the floor with a groan. That kinda hurt.

"Hi, Cole!" Comet said, just as enthusiastically as Kia had.

"Ugh," I groaned, "hi, Comet."

I got up and dusted myself off. Their mom was glaring at Comet.

"It's ok," I assured her, "they just haven't seen me in a few weeks."

"Come on, Cole," they said together, grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I laughed. They dragged me into their living room.

My first impression was that it looked like a tornado had torn through it. There were toys everywhere, all over the floor and furniture. I spotted a toy that Gust had once showed me how to play with. It was a spinning top with holes through it. I picked it up.

"That one doesn't work," Kia told me, as though I should already have known that. But I shook my head.  
"Yes it does, you just need to be a wind dragon," I corrected them, then added, "or me."

I held the top in my hand and sent a small gust through it. It spun on my palm and made a buzzing sound.

"Cool, Cole!" Comet grinned, his eyes lighting up.

"Thanks," I grinned back. Then I tried to do it like Gust could. I can control wind just as good as any dragon, but breathe it? Not so much. So when I sent a good sized gust into the little toy, the top buzzed furiously and took off upwards, imbedding itself into the ceiling.

"Oops, sorry," I grimaced, "I'll get it." I stretched my wings up and grabbed it with my wingtips. I had only just pulled it down when their mom walked in.

"Comet!" She yelled angrily, as though he was the culprit. I quickly corrected her.

"Sorry, Ma'am. I'm not too good at breathing elements yet." I grinned apologetically, the spinning top clutched in my hands. She had her eyes fixed on the hole in the ceiling.

"Here, I can fix it," I said quickly. I made a clump of stone and welded it into the hole. The adult dragoness turned her disapproving eyes on me.

"Do you mind playing outside?" She asked delicately. Her tone said it all – 'get out before I kill you'.

"Ok," I said quickly and grabbed some of the toys, "Come on, I'll show you how to use these."

Their backyard wasn't very big, smaller than mine, but we still had fun. Many of the toys needed certain elements to get them to work. I managed to make all of them work, to Comet and Kia's delight. One of the toys would spin and change colours if a fire was lit in the centre. I think that was their favourite.

When their mom finally came out to check on us, it was dusk and the two young dragons were sleeping under my wings. My back was resting up against the wall and my eyes were heavy. Who knew playing could wear you out so much.

"Goodnight," said their mom, a little frostily.

"Night," I whispered back. About ten minutes later, I was in dreamland.


	33. Chapter 33 Favors

**Chapter 33: Favours**

The next morning, I woke up with Kia and Comet lying on my lap. Even being so young, they weighed quite a lot. Comet was a little heavier than Kia, and my legs were slowing going numb from their weight. They almost identical now, but I knew that in a few years Comet would be much bigger and Kia would be much faster.

For a while I lay there, not wanting to disturb them, even if I was getting a bit uncomfortable. Their mom, however, had other ideas. She poked her head out the door, saw I was awake and they weren't, and yelled, "WAKE UP!"

Their heads shot up and connected with mine. Their horns were blunt, but transferred force very well. My head snapped back and struck the wall hard. My vision flashed and I saw spots behind my eyes.

"Cole!" I heard them yelp together and felt them scramble off me.  
"No, no, I'm ok," I reassured them, feeling a little wobbly as I stood up.

"Look at what you two did!" their mom snapped. I glared at her.

"You two, go inside," I said to Comet and Kia without looking at them, "I'm going to talk to your mom. Ok?"

They looked worried. They could tell that I didn't like their mom. But they went in anyway, leaving me along with the red dragoness that was their mother.

She looked angry, "How is it that they listen to you more than they do to me?"  
"I wonder," I muttered sarcastically, clenching my fists, "Those two never do anything wrong! I'm a warrior, ma'am; I know how to recognise when someone is scared. And I know how to recognise what caused those fears. You beat those two till their bloody, I bet!" My voice rose to a snarl as I said this. I was sure I'd hit the nail on the head with that one. She only proved me right.

"How would you know!" she snapped, not meeting my eyes.  
"Your answer tells me volumes," I scowled, "Sharps was a gentle giant until the battle. He deserved better and so do they. And that's exactly what I'm going to give them."

"You…you can't take my children!" She was grasping at straws to keep me from saying what I knew.

"You're absolutely right," I said, "But an elder dragon? That is a different story." And, ignoring her horrified expression, I walked past her into the living room.

"Hey, do you two want to come over to my house for a little while?" I asked the twins, kneeling in front of them.

They perked up considerably, "YAY!"

"Ok then, come on," I ushered them out of the house, glancing backwards as I did so. Their mom was still standing stunned at the back door.

I led them towards the Temple, much to their confusion. Comet stared at me like I'd gone mad, "Cole, your house is _that_way."  
"Yes it is," I agreed, "But you're going to meet the guardians."

Their faces lit up, "Really?"

"Unless you don't want to," I joked. They quickly shook their heads.

"No, we want to see the Guardians!"

"Ok, come on." I took off running and they took flight beside me.

When we arrived at the main entrance, there was a sign hanging by the door. I couldn't read Draco, the dragon language. The twins could though.

"Cole, that says 'no visitors'," Kia said anxiously.

"That's ok, I'm not a visitor," I said, leading them into the temple.

I led them to the main…uh? Food room? That's what I call it. The same mole as last time approached us.

"Do you want to eat now, sir?" he asked.  
"Not me," I pointed to the twins, "But they do."

The mole turned to them, "And what would the young masters like?"

They looked confused, so I suggested, "How about some sweet deer?"

"What's that?"  
"Like a mix of candy and meat," I explained, "It tastes very good."

"Ok!" they agreed brightly. The mole disappeared to relay the order.  
"Ok, you two," I said to them, "I need to go check on something."  
"What?" they asked curiously.  
"Calling in a favour," was all I said before I left them. I quickly found the mole who had taken our order, "Hey, buddy, can I ask you something?"  
"Of course, sir."

"Can you watch the twins for me? I need to talk with the Guardians."  
"Of…Of course sir." The mole seemed surprised by such a request, "But, may I ask, what should we do?"

"Whatever they want," I told him.

Confused, the mole asked hesitantly, "Are they dying?"

I shrugged, "Only as much as all of us."

Leaving the mole to watch over the twins, I went to find the earth guardian, Tremor. He was in the target room, practising.

"Tremor!" I called, approaching him. He turned to look at me.

"What, Cole?"

"I need to call in a favour," I told him. Tremor considered me for a moment.  
"What would that be?" he asked finally.  
"I want the Guardians to spend the day with the twins."  
"Sure," he shrugged, "But what are you going to do?"  
"Improve their lives," I said shortly, to Tremor's surprise and suspicion.

"How?" he asked warily.  
"You ask no questions, I tell no lies."

Maybe it was because it was me, or maybe it was my tone, but Tremor's eyes narrowed and he said, "Cole, don't kill anyone."  
"I won't…well, maybe."  
"Cole, you wouldn't," Tremor said, eyes narrowing.

"As far as you know," I replied, in as creepy a tone as I could muster. But seconds later I burst out laughing and soon he did to.

"Man, Cole, you really had me going there." Tremor grinned, shaking his head.  
"I know." I smirked, "Anyway, we had better get going."  
"Where are they?" the earth guardian asked, looking around for the twins.  
"No idea," I shrugged and then added, "Well, they can't eat as fast as me, so probably still eating."  
"Alright," Tremor nodded, "Bye, Cole."  
"See ya," I raised a hand in farewell and headed for the exit. Then I was off to Storm's house.


	34. Chapter 34 Anger management

**Chapter 34: Anger Management**

"Cole, I can't," Storm insisted. It was clear that he didn't like my idea. But I hadn't figured that he would.  
"Why?" I pressed angrily, "Storm, she beats them bloody!"

"Cole, it isn't my place!" Storm protested, shaking his head. I was getting very mad, very fast. How could he defend this bitch?

"Not your place?" I nearly roared, "Those kids have never done anything wrong and they have scars from where she beats them!" –I was too angry to stop now – "Storm, how can you _defend_her? You know what? Screw it! I'll take care of her myself!"

I turned around to leave, smoking with fury.

"Cole!" Apparently Spyro had woken up.

"What?" I snarled, whirling on him.

"Cole, this isn't the way to do it," Spyro's words pierced my mind. It wasn't what he said, but more like _how_ he said it.

"Then how?" I asked. I calmed down some and my voice lowered, "I-I want a better life for them."  
"I know, Cole. I know." He patted my back comfortingly, which surprised me. I was glad he was ok now, at least.

"How can we help them," I glared at Storm, "if he won't help us?"  
Spyro sighed, "Cole, I will handle this, but you need to calm down."  
I realised he was right, "Yeah. I think I'll do that."

Looking away from Storm, I ran out of the building and took off. Just to burn energy I tried to fly as fast as I could. I'm not sure but I think that I hit one hundred miles an hour. It wasn't my fastest, but faster than I could run. I was way outside of Warfang by the time I figured it was time for some fun.

I was a few hundred feet in the air when I encased myself in a boulder and dropped, quite literally, like a stone. When I hit the ground there was an enormous bang that would have echoed all the way to Warfang. I blew the boulder apart and my green gem let off a burst. That one was empty.

Then I started to make mini tornados and breathed fire into each one until they all turned a different colour. Both of my gems – fire and wind– sent off a blast and the tornados dissipated. I was very tired, but I wanted to see the extent of my power. Crawling out of the crater I'd created, I called up my poison element and filled the crater to the brim. Then I got an idea – not a smart idea, but still an idea.

I called up all of the lightning I could manage; I smelled ozone and my hair stood on end. That had never happened before. Then I heard a crack and saw a bolt hit the pool of poison. Acting on reflex, I wrapped my wings around my body. The pool exploded with terrifying force. I went flying and landed heavily several yards away. I bounced a few times and heard something snap – no, two things.

The main bone in my wings had snapped, both of them. I groaned, but the pain dulled quickly as my chest gem pulsed. My eyes turned towards Warfang. It was going to be a long walk. My wings would heal extremely fast, so I figured that I would need to break them again so they would set right. With a sigh, I stood up and started the walk back to Warfang.

I walked until it was dark. Soon I found that I had used up all of my powers that could produce light. So I found some sticks and started sparking my swords. I thought it was strange that, considering how much I used my swords, they didn't have a single scratch. I got a nice little fire going and tried to stay awake, but sleep won that battle. It was in my dreams that strange things started to happen.

I could tell that something was wrong, but I had no idea what. I had started walking around, when I figured it out. I was a dragon.

"Hey, Cole," said a voice. My head swung towards it. It was Spyro.

I tried to say "hi", but I only growled.

"You ok?" Spyro asked anxiously, cocking his head.

My lips curled. It was like my body was taking over my mind. I lunged at him, breathing fire from my jaws.

"Cole, stop!" he screamed. I tried. I was screaming in my head, telling myself to stop. But my body wouldn't obey. I brought my tailblade down on Spyro and his screams ceased.

I shot upright, my heart beating at hyper speed. "NO!" I heard myself yell, before I calmed down and realised I had woken up.

I remember thinking, '_Man, I hope that wasn't a premonition._'

Unable to get back to sleep, I grabbed a stick and headed on to Warfang.


	35. Chapter 35 welcome to the Family

**Chapter 35: Welcome to the Family**

It took most of the night before I finally made it back to Warfang. My wings, as expected, had healed already and were bent at odd angles.

"Halt!" ordered one of the cheetahs that had stayed to help guard the city, when I approached.

"It's me," I said.

The cheetah sounded dumbstruck when he answered, "Commander?"

"Yes, now open up." The great gate groaned as it moved forward. I entered the city and headed to Storm's. Once there I knocked on the door and heard his annoyed voice answer me.

"What?" I guess I'd be annoyed too; after all, it was only about two in the morning.

"Storm, open up," I called through the door. I heard a crash and him curse.

"You ok?" I asked when he opened the door.

He stared at my bent wings, "Are _you_?"

"Yeah, but my wings need to be re-broken and set right."  
He groaned, "Come in."

Apparently he had run smack bang into a wall. That explained the crash.  
"How?" I asked, trying not to laugh. He just gave me a look that said 'you're the one that woke me up'.

"Ok, Cole, sit here," he gestured to a nearby bed. There was a sign resting on it that I couldn't read.

"What does that say?"

"It says 'Cole's Bed'," Storm replied with a wry smirk.

"I really am here that much."  
"Yes, Cole, you are."

Crack! I hadn't been expecting that. He had grabbed my wing on both sides of the break and pulled. It snapped with a sound like a gunshot, and then he pushed them together.

"Shit!"  
"Sorry, Cole," Storm grimaced. Crack! He did the same to the other wing.

I had an incredible pain threshold, but two snaps in quick succession were too much even for me. I think that the adrenalin was the only thing that kept me awake the first time.

When I woke up, Storm was curled up in a ball beside the bed. His snores could wake the dead. Flexing my wings, I was glad to see that they were healed and back to normal. Relieved, I headed outside. I needed to see Spyro, but I decided I would stop by my house first.

When I opened the door, I was met by Flash, who almost looked like he'd been waiting for me.

"Hi, Cole. Are you going to help build the new room?" he asked.  
I blinked, "New room?"

"The twins are moving in." said Flash. I stared.

I remember thinking, '_What did Spyro do?_'

"They are?"  
"Yeah," Flash glanced at me, "Spyro said you act like a dad around them."

"Well I guess I do, now that you mention it," I agreed. He had a point. I had never noticed it, but he was right.

"Ok, I'll start now then," I said, flexing my hands.

We had a lot of comet steel left, so I got a good sized chunk, fired it, and shaped it to form one of the walls. Sleeping must have charged my gems back up, I noticed. The wall turned jet black as it cooled. I wasn't thinking of anything, so it turned the colour of my scales.

"One down, three to go," I said as I welded it to the outside wall of my room.

"So, they will live next to you?" Spyro asked, popping his head out of the back door.

"How did you manage to convince Storm?" I asked, without answering his question.

"Well, when I told you to leave, he saw how mad you were and decided it was safer to do what you said," Spyro shrugged.  
"So my temper actually helped," I said, surprised.

"Apparently."  
I looked up at the wall at had made, realising I still had three more to do, "Spyro, can you help me with this?"  
"Sure." With his help, we finished in less than an hour.

"Uh, Cole?" Spyro muttered, nudging me, "We forgot something."  
"What?" I asked, bewildered. Spyro stared at me like I was an idiot.  
"A door."

I smacked my head, "Yeah, that is kind of important."

I made a super fine jet of flame on my claw and traced squares in the wall. Spyro watched, a little confused by what I was doing.

"Cole?"  
"Windows," I explained once I'd finished them. I crawled in through one and cut out a door.

"Well, that wasn't too bad," Spyro said, stepping back to admire our handwork.  
"I agree," I nodded, standing in the threshold of the door I'd made, "Spyro, you know what? If we ever need money, we could be blacksmiths."  
"That we could," The purple dragon agreed.

"Cole, is this our room?" said two excited voices. What is it with people sneaking up on me today?

"Yep," I said, turning to face Comet and Kia who had come up behind me, "We are going to decorate it for you tonight and you can sleep in it tomorrow."

Spyro poked his head in through one of the windows, "We?"

"Yes, Spyro." I sighed, "I'm only one person and this will take a while."

"Oh, what the heck, I don't have anything else to do," said Spyro.

So we spent the night hauling stuff in and painting. By early morning, we had both fallen asleep on the floor. With paint still smudged across our scales, it was a funny sight.


	36. Chapter 36 Breakfast

**Chapter 36: Breakfast**

I woke up with my back to the wall and my wings splayed out. My neck was sore from sleeping upright all night.

"Ugh. Spyro, wake up," I grunted. He was sleeping on his back, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

I got up with a groan, meaning to stretch, but my wings were kind of stuck to the wall. Clearly the paint had dried to them and came off the wall when I wrenched them free. The wall had been painted sky-blue, the twins' favourite colour. I figured looked like an idiot with a jet-black front and a sky-blue back. I walked over to Spyro, who was still sleeping on the floor.

"Spyro, wake up, buddy." He didn't, so I started shaking him. Seconds later he groaned and sat up.

"I'm up!" he mumbled. I laughed at that. Despite both of us having more power than we knew what to do with, we were both still goofballs.

"Time for breakfast," I said, turning my back on him. I could feel him staring.  
"Cole, why are you blue?" the inevitable question.  
"I fell asleep against the wall," I mumbled, a little embarrassed. The wall in question now had an unpainted patch in the shape of two wings and a head.

"Come on, Spyro, you're cooking," I told him, craning my head to look at the back of my wings, "_I'm_ getting washed up."

"Ok," he headed to the kitchen without arguing. I wondered if he had ever cooked food before. Leaving him to do so, I took a shower and woke everyone else up.

When I went into the kitchen, I found it full of smoke so thick I couldn't even see my own hands. "What the hell? Spyro!"

"Cole," Spyro coughed, stumbling out of the smoke, "I think you should make breakfast."  
"You think?" I muttered. Still, it was my fault. I'm the only one I know who knows how to cook, other than the moles. I probably shouldn't have asked him to.

I blew away the smoke, "Spyro, go entertain the twins. I'll make breakfast."  
"Thank you." He left my kitchen, looking relieved to be out of it.

I grabbed a new slab of beef, slightly cooked it, then poured some honey on it and cooked it some more. I then added some spices before frying it. It was a good thirty pounds of meat.

"Come in, guys," I called, cutting it into eight pieces.

"Wow. Cole, that smells good," said the twins together, falling in sync again.

"Thanks." I had cooked so much that my…hell, they were my _family_. This just dawned on me after being closed off for so many years. It was a strange realisation.

Gust, Rumbler, Specter, and Flash marched in like soldiers.

I remember thinking, '_Huh_?'

"Sir, is this grub for us?" Rumbler asked formally.

I saw Spyro crack a big grin, but decided to play along.

"Yes, troops," I said, fighting the grin that threatened to show, "Dig in."  
"Thank you, sir!" they barked together, like true soldiers. The twins were rolling on the floor and we all started laughing.

"Spyro?"

"What did you think?" the purple dragon asked, clearly amused by my reaction.  
"How did you get them to do that?" I asked him.  
He only winked, "My secret."  
"Oh, come on," I pressed.

"Wow, Cole, you haven't cooked in a long time!" Flash interrupted, practically diving into his food.

"I know," I turned to ask Spyro something, but had a blank moment. "Hey, Flash, that's mine!" I yelled instead. He had grabbed my piece.

"Oh, you wanted this?" Grinning mockingly, Flash swallowed the whole piece in one gulp. For a second he was silent and then he blanched.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He was choking, I realised. Panicked, I ran up to him.

"Guys, where do his ribs end?" I asked frantically. Spyro pointed to his general middle area. I put my arms around his stomach and pulled, hard. The piece of meat went flying from his throat. SPLAT – right on the wall.

"Dammit, Flash!" I growled, letting him go. He was pale.

"Sorry, Cole," was all he could say.

"Flash, are you ok?" I asked anxiously. Flash swallowed and took a deep breath.  
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," he said, letting it out.

"Well, I'm hungry and I'm not eating that. So I'm making more," I looked at Flash, "and I'm eating it."

"Cole, can we help?" the twins asked eagerly, their eyes bright,

"Yeah, and Spyro, I'm teaching you how to cook."  
"But…" he started to protest, but I wouldn't take no for an answer.

"I'm teaching you how to cook!" I repeated firmly. Spyro heaved a resigned sigh and nodded. Soon after, their stomaches full, the others left.

"Spyro, how did you cook the first piece?" was the first thing I asked him. He had to have been doing something wrong. I had a small piece out for him to show me.

"Like this," Spyro opened his mouth and sent a hellfire over the piece of meat. It crumbled into little more than a pile of smoking ash. I sighed and got a new frozen piece out.

"Well, there's your problem. You have to cook it like this," I told him. I sent a barely visible flame over it, until the ice was gone.

"Now we can eat it?" The purple dragon asked, clueless.  
"No, Spyro, it isn't cooked yet." I showed him how I had made it before, and ate it.

"Now it's your turn," I told him.  
We spent most of the morning showing him how to cook. What a waste of meat. But he got it down. Eventually.


	37. Chapter 37 Heroes etarnal

**Chapter 37: Heroes Eternal**

Considering that we had spent most of the morning teaching Spyro how to cook –no small task, let me tell you – I decided it was time to let the twins have a little fun.

"Cole, where are you going?" Spyro had asked warily, as I ushered the twins out of the kitchen.

"Don't worry about me," I said, "Now why don't you go cook something nice for Cynder?"

The effect was instant. His face turned redder than Flame's. Despite being together for about twelve years, he still blushed and stuttered when I said something like that. I guess that's mainly why I do it.

"Bye-bye, Spyro!" Kia called brightly. Comet and I laughed. We left him stuttering in front of our house.

"Cole, where are we going?" they asked together. I'll probably never figure out how they are always in sync.  
"It's a surprise," I told them mysteriously.

We headed to a new section of the city. The great walls didn't surround this part. It was a massive park surrounding the Memorial. The memorial itself was gleaming like a second sun.

"Cole, is that…?" Comet and Kia hadn't been to the funeral.

"Yes, the War Memorial," I said. The moles were still working on it, "But I didn't bring you here for this." – I turned them to the massive park – "I brought you here for _this_."  
They both gasped in awe, "Cole, did you build this?"  
"No, but I helped. I need to help the moles, but you're here to have fun."  
"Yay!" They ran off to play and I couldn't help but smile. There were four huge dragons guarding the little ones.

"Mason!" I called, heading over to the moles still working on the memorial. He was the head mole for any project.

"Hi, Cole," He was also one of the few that called me by name.

"Mason, I have a project but I have no idea what the old Guardians looked like."  
"The old ones? You mean Ignitus and Terrador?" the old mole asked.  
"Yes, and Volteer and Cyril as well."

"Why not ask Spyro?" Mason suggested with a shrug.  
"I'm not going to make him remember those things," I said, shaking my head. But no sooner had I said it, did a voice speak in my mind.

'_You have a kind heart for one with your past_.'

I slammed up the walls in my mind, instantly on guard. But somehow the voice still broke through.

'_I'm no enemy_'it said.

"…who are you?" I was speaking out loud, confusing Mason.

"What, Cole?" the mole asked, but I didn't reply.

'_Cole, I'm a friend,' _insisted the voice,_'My name is Ignitus.'_

That caught me off guard and the walls in my mind lowered. I felt him in my mind before I could raise them again.

'_I'm not here to hurt you.'_ He sounded sincere, but to me that didn't really matter.

"_How can I hear you?"_ I thought to him.  
'_Being the Chronicler, I've gained the powers of his mind. You wanted to make statues of us?'_

"_Yes," _I responded, still in thought.

'_Here am I.' _

A picture flashed into my mind, of a wise old fire dragon.

"Mason, move," I said quickly. My hands were glowing green. The ground rumbled as I called up massive diamonds and rubies from the earth. I hollowed out the diamond and shaped it to look like Ignitus then filled it with the rubies.

"Wow, Cole," I heard Mason breath in awe.

"Thanks Mason." On the block on the bottom I put in Draco the words: 'Ignitus, mentor of Spyro, Guardian of Fire. Gone too soon and much missed.'

"I didn't even know him and I miss him," I sighed, looking down at the words I'd inscribed.  
"Most dragons do," said a voice behind me. I turned.  
"Hi, Spyro," I said.  
"How did you…?"Spyro inclined his head at the statue,  
"He's in my head," I explained wryly. I heard Ignitus speak again.

'_Cole, let me talk_.'

Who was I to deny an old Fire Guardian's wish?

"Spyro," I said, but it wasn't me who spoke, nor was it my voice that came out. It was Ignitus, speaking through me. Spyro gave a great start, eyes flying wide open.

"Ig-Ignitus?" he stammered, before dashing forwards and grabbing me – or was it Ignitus? – in a hug.

"It's so good to see you again, Spyro," I felt Ignitus say through my mouth. Clearly he was seeing through my eyes too. Spyro was nearly glowing with happiness.

"However, my possession of your friend weakens him, so I must be quick," Ignitus continued. He was right; I could feel my energy draining as he spoke.

"You have a right to know who your family is," Ignitus's thoughts were mixing with mine, now, "Spyro, I'm your father."

I felt my expression – Ignitus's expression – morph into one of simultaneous happiness and sadness. I'm still not sure how he pulled that off.

"Wh-what about my mom?" Spyro stammered.  
"I'm sorry, Spyro," Ignitus sighed, "she was killed in the first months of the war. I am afraid I must leave now, Spyro. Goodbye."

I felt him withdraw from my mind and his presence left my body. Then I fell.

"Cole, are you ok?" Spyro asked, leaning over me.  
"I'm fine," I insisted, pushing myself to my knees, "Are you?"  
"Yes," he looked away, still affected by what had just happened, "Just shaken."  
"Spyro, unless you're psychic, you were looking for me," I said, quickly changing the subject. His relationship with Ignitus didn't seem to be something he wanted to talk about.  
"I need a fighter, Cole," Spyro responded instantly, his eyes meeting mine again. As soon as I heard that, I was all mercenary.

"You got one. What do you need?"

"When me and Cynder beat the Dark Army the first time, the majority of the troops went into hiding," Spyro explained, "I need you to find them and kill them."

"Two things," I said, holding up a hand, "First: where? Second: I need you to watch the twins."  
"Deal. When?"

"Tomorrow," I replied. The sooner we got this over with, the better. We didn't need more remnants of the Dark Army still wandering around out there.  
"Alright, the first place you should check is the area around Mt. Malefor," Spyro said.  
"Ok," then I had a thought, "Wait, not tomorrow. The day after. I need to modify my armour."  
"That's fine," Spyro turned to leave, his thoughts still with Ignitus, "Goodbye, Cole."  
"Bye, Spyro."

When he was gone, I busied myself by finishing the statues with Mason's guidance. By the time I was done, most of the day was gone and I was wiped out. Yawning, I collected the twins and headed home.


	38. Chapter 38 1 Down

**Chapter 38: One Down**

The next morning, after breakfast, I decided to tell everyone.

"Cole, you sound like you want to be a soldier," was Gust's response. Maybe that _was_what I wanted. There were only two times when I felt complete: when I was fighting and when I was with the twins.

"Maybe I do, but this is a favour. None of you have to come."  
Rumbler, I think, took that personally, "Like hell, Cole. I'm coming."  
"You're not leaving me behind, Cole," Gust grunted. I knew Gust would come; it was Flash and Specter I didn't know about.

"Cole, Stella is here. But know that I can and will follow you into hell and back again. I'm in." Flash was unusually solemn. My eyes turned to Specter.

"Cole I…I can't," She looked away, "The killing…the pain…it has to stop. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. I'm sorry. I'm not coming."

Her words hit like hammer blows. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I wasn't; for multiple reasons.

"Specter…" Rumbler looked like his heart had broken.

"Rumbler, it's her decision and I'm not going to force her. She's had enough," I gave her a hug and went out back to work with my armour.

I took the chest plate off of the suit and put it on me. I was able to fold my wings so they were flat against my back. But the suit was skin tight, there was no way they'd fit. I took it off and traced lines where I would need to cut. I used a super-focused flame to cut it. When I put it back on, it fit perfectly. I had gotten bigger and taller, but so had the suit apparently.

"Cole, are you leaving?" I heard Kia's soft voice say and turned around to find the twins watching me.  
"Yes, but Specter is going to watch you," I assured them with a strained smile.

"Cole, I can't stop you," Comet's voice was a lot deeper than normal, "but promise me that you will come back."  
"I promise."

They disappeared inside, leaving me to finish putting my armour on. I tested it out, moving around in it and was pleased that it was just as easy as I remembered. Now it was time to train in it. My swords proved somewhat tricky. For some unknown reason, I was unable to hold them. But the hilts were magnetic. I magnetized my hands and swung. To my satisfaction, the swords stayed in my hands.

It was close to two in the afternoon by the time I was confident with my armour. But I was worried I had forgotten something. The hypos. I'm glad, very glad that I remembered them. I had a few crystal clusters growing in my room, so I crushed one up, making sure not to absorb the shards. I got a bowl of water and mixed the gem dust into it. I made twenty of them by the time Specter interrupted me.

"Cole?"

"Hi, Specter," I looked up from my work and my eyes fell on her. I realised at once that there was something off about her. Her eyes had a hollow look, like she was sleeping with her eyes open.

"Specter, are you ok?" I asked anxiously.  
"You will lose something important to you…" her voice murmured hollowly. I froze. The last time she was like this, she had told me that four people close to me would die. It didn't stop me then, and it wouldn't stop me now.

"Specter, snap out of it!" I said firmly, waving my hand in front of her face.  
Her eyes immediately focused, "Huh? Oh, hi, Cole. What am I doing in your room?"  
"No idea, Specter, no idea," I sighed, shaking my head. She never remembered these trances…or whatever they were called.

"Hm? Well, then, good luck," she walked out, completely unaware of what had just happened.

I got into bed. Time flies when you're working. I was asleep in minutes.

The next morning I woke up before the sun. There were two reasons for that: I liked to get going just after it had risen so we could have a full day, and I loved to watch the sun come up. I woke the guys up. Their reactions were varied. Flash bolted up; Rumbler hit me and knocked me on my ass, mumbling about a good dream. He wasn't a morning person. Gust was already up.

"Well, Cole, this is going to be different," he said.  
"Yeah, Gust, it will be."

We ate in silence and headed out. I flew in the air with the rest of them for the first time since I had got my wings.

"Damn, Cole, you're fast!" Flash called gleefully.

Rumbler was falling behind. I dropped back until I was flying behind him and sent a thermal his way. He shot sky high with a yell of, "Thanks, Cole!"  
"Welcome!" I yelled back.

At the speed we were going, it didn't take long before we reached our destination. The great mountain rose far above the earth, a stain of hideousness marked upon the landscape.

"Cole, is that…?" Gust called through the wind.  
"Yes," my voice darkened, "Mt. Malefor."

The gate to Hell, and the closest thing to it on this world. We had arrived.


	39. Chapter 39 Acceptable Loses

**Chapter 39: Acceptable Loses**

We landed about ten miles away from the mountain.

Flash looked at me and Rumbler, "Ok now you two, don't blow this one up."  
"Damn, why not?" Rumbler mock pouted.

"Ok guys, time to get serious," I ordered, "Gust, do an aerial recon; Flash, see what you can find; Rumbler, you're with me."

We were about one hundred feet apart, so we could still talk.

This place was like one of my nightmares. There were random jets of flame coming out of the ground and any trees we found were dead. The ground was charred black. It was on the ground that I found something.

"Rumbler, come here!" I called.

He came running, "What, Cole?"  
"I found me an army, I think." The ground had two by two marks from something – no, many something's – walking across.

"I do too, Cole." Rumbler was an expert tracker, so I think I guessed right this time.

"What have you found, Cole?" Flash and Gust came swooping down to join us.

"Nice line, Cole," said the wind dragon, gazing at the tracks.  
"Flash, follow it that way," I pointed away from the mountain.

"Why do I have to?" Flash whined, "Can't Gust?"

"Because Gust can't go supersonic," I replied dryly. With a sigh, Flash sped off.

"Cole, how long do you think he'll be?" Gust asked. I paused.  
"Oh three…two…one…" There was a loud pop and a hefty bang and I heard Rumbler yell "FLASH!" Clearly he had run into the earth dragon.

"Flash, what did you find?" I asked quickly.  
"Nothing."

"Well, this way it is." we followed the trail for a few hundred feet until it just stopped. But they must have gone somewhere, and I had a feeling I knew where.

"Rumbler, what is under us?" I asked.  
His answer was what I expected, "Tunnels."  
We dug a hole and dropped down into one of the tunnels. It was dark and smelled of earth. I looked both ways up the tunnel before coming to a decision.

"Flash, Rumbler, go that way," I pointed, "Gust, come on."  
It was an old strategy of mine: one melee and one ranged soldier per party.

We had gone about a hundred feet before we found the first soldier. It was just my luck that it had to be a Mutant. This one was shorter than the others we'd run into before, but looked bulkier and stronger.

"Gust, stay behind me!" I drew my swords and roared. I hadn't meant it, but it was infused with Fear.

The wolf cringed and I swung for its neck, going for a quick kill. It had other ideas. It grabbed my sword, but quickly let go. No wonder; I had heated them to three thousand degrees. Instead, it took a swipe for my head. Instead of just bouncing off my helm, it cut right through and tore along the left side of my face. My left eye went black, pain exploded in my head, and I swung on reflex. The superheated blade connected with its head. The wolf was dead before it hit the ground. At least it wasn't suffering any pain, which was more than I could say for myself.

I popped my helmet's visor and dropped to the ground, gasping. I could feel something warm and sticky running down my face. Blood, no doubt.

"COLE!" Gust ran up to me, but I didn't face him. I held my sword up to my face, so I could see my reflection.

"Gust, I-I'm ok." it was a total lie. My left eye was gone. "Gust, don't look."

He turned around. Whenever I said something like that, he listened.

"Cole, what are you doing?" I heard his voice shake.  
"Stopping the bleeding," I told him, trying to stop my hands trembling. They were glowing red hot. I traced my fingers along the cut. It was totally numb, but I could hear my scales hiss at the heat. When I was done, it had stopped bleeding.

"Cole?" Gust asked anxiously.  
"I'm good now," I told him, straightening up, "FLASH!"  
There was a pop and Flash and Rumbler popped up in front of us. The electricity dragon stared at me.

"Cole, your face," he said, gaping.  
I tried to sound as calm as possible, "That isn't nice, Flash."

"Cole, what the hell happened?" Rumbler growled, staring.  
"I got slashed," I explained shortly.  
They were dumbstruck; not only had something cut through my armour, but my scales too.

"Come on, we have a mission to do," I insisted. This wasn't going to slow me down. I started to walk away, and then noticed they weren't following. "Guys, I'm _ok_!" That got them moving.

The tunnel went on for miles. I figured that my left eye had controlled depth perception. Now I couldn't tell the difference between ten feet and ten inches. Everything looked flat.

"Cole, you need rest," Gust insisted, walking beside me.  
"Gust, they already have an advantage on us! I'm not giving us to them on a silver platter!" I snapped, before realising I'd yelled, "Gust, I'm sorry, but we need to keep moving."  
"I know, Cole."  
"RUN!" Flash suddenly screamed behind us. He and Rumbler came running up between us and took off into the darkness of the tunnel. We didn't stop to find out what they were running from. I looked at Gust and we took off after them.


	40. Chapter 40 Matched

**Chapter 40: Matched**

We were running for our lives, from what, I didn't know. I looked back, but couldn't see a thing.

"Flash, why are we running?" I yelled.  
He turned his head to see me. He was very pale; truly afraid. "Ask later, run now!"

And run we did. I managed not to trip for a good mile, before Flash slowed down and stopped. We slowed to a stop beside him.

"Flash, what was that?" Rumbler gasped. We were all breathing hard, but Rumbler looked liable to drop dead at any second.

"I-I don't know!" The second he said that, there was an ear-splitting roar behind us.

I whipped around, swords drawn. It roared again and stepped into the bubble of light Flash had made. My nerve almost failed me at the sight.

"What the…" it was me, but not me. His armour was pitch-black and his swords were long swords, but bent up the length of the blade.

"Come on!" he screamed. His voice was much deeper than mine and echoed horribly.

Trying to catch him off guard, I charged and swung both of my swords. But he brought both of his up and blocked mine.

"Hm. Fast little shit, aren't you?" he smirked.

I gritted my teeth and super-charged my body. I got in a few good hits before he caught on and copied my moves. Now we were both supersonic. I was starting to fight dirty. I drew up my foot and landed a kick to his chest. On reflex, he swung right at my chest. I wasn't surprised when his sword cut through my armour, but I was surprised when it made contact with my gem – his sword shattered like glass.

"WHAT?" his voice haunts my dreams to this day.

"So you're a shadow, huh? Feel the light!" I lit my entire body on fire and kept adding heat to it, until it turned blue and then continued to white. I glowed like a solar flare.

"NO!" his voice faded into nothing, and I let my fire fade.

"Cole, what was that?" Gust mumbled. We were all shaken up.

"I have no idea," I admitted, shaking my head. I turned my head back to my friends and saw Flash had an empty look in his eyes. Something was wrong.

"Flash?" I touched him and he fell over, landing limply on the ground. There was a small piece of black metal piercing his back. I pulled it out and traced the wound with my hands, sending healing energy into him. I watched muscle and scales grow, bind, and mend. His breathing slowed to normal.

"Ok, he is okay," I said, taking a deep breath, "kinda. We need to get him back to Storm, fast."  
"Cole, just phase him out," Gust suggested, watching the unconscious Flash with worried eyes.  
"No, Gust, we have a mission to…" I trailed off as an idea struck me. I grabbed both of them in my wings and called as much static from the air as I could. Then, adding my own power, I let loose a confined lighting storm just as I phased out. The lightning travelled the tunnels and I heard the agonised screams of the Dark Army's soldiers before the world flashed white.

We popped up in front of Storm's. I staggered, holding Flash, and roared, "STORM!"

It was only then that the location hit me. Warfang was nearly three hundred miles from Mt. Malefor. My max on a good day was around one hundred. How I had managed it, I had no idea.

Storm came running out of his house and I said frantically, "I'll explain later, just tell me if he is ok."  
"Cole, he's fine," Storm reassured me, looking confused, "Was he hurt?"  
I gave him my 'what-the-hell-do-you-think?' face.

"Why isn't he hurt now, then?" Storm asked sceptically.  
I shrugged, "Maybe I'm just getting better at healing"  
He just gave me a look, "I'll keep him overnight to make sure he's ok."  
"Thanks," I turned to Rumbler and Gust, "Ok, you two go home and get some rest."  
"Where are you going?" Gust asked, still shaken from the events of the day.  
"To tell Spyro about this mission," I replied.  
"Ok, night, Cole." I watched them leave, glad that they hadn't been hurt.  
"Night," I murmured after them and headed off to tell Spyro. This wasn't going to be fun.


	41. Chapter 41 Headachs

**Chapter 41: Headaches**

I wandered aimlessly around Warfang for hours, trying to find the temple. Normally I could find it in my sleep, but my thoughts were blurred and I couldn't tell the difference between five feet and fifty. I eventually found it and tripped up the stairs, trying to find Spyro. But he found me first.

"C-Cole?" I didn't answer, just fell to the ground.

"Cole!" he ran, but couldn't catch me.

"Spyro, I got into some deep shit this time." I slurred. The lights in my helmet had gone out so he could see my face.

"Cole, your eye!" Spyro gasped, aghast.

"I know, it's gone," I pulled my helmet off so he could see my whole face. His eyes stared at the slash on my face

"Cole, what hit you?"  
"Some kind of wolf," I mumbled, "it cut right through my armour."

His face darkened considerably, "They aren't defeated; they just keep getting stronger!" He was talking about the Dark Army.

"Spyro, there was something else… but I'm not sure what it is now," I blinked, my thoughts blurring. There was something else I had to tell him, I just couldn't think of it.

"Cole, are you ok?"  
"I don't think so, Spyro."  
"Come on, Cole," he lifted me up with his wing, "Just hold my wing."

I was so messed up that I couldn't have argued if I wanted to. I think it was from the blow to my head.

"S-Spyro. I need help." I stammered. He looked stunned. I never asked for help unless I truly needed it.

"This is bad," he mumbled, "Come on, Cole." He pulled me in a different direction.

"Spyro, get me a hypo," I begged. It came out slurred, but he got the point. He grabbed a red one and poked my arm. The headache was gone instantly and my thoughts became clearer.

"Cole, something is majorly wrong," Spyro said, watching me anxiously and shaking his head.  
"I'll say," I muttered, then I remembered what I had come to tell him. "SPYRO!"

He jumped, "What, Cole?" He looked around for an enemy, but there was none. I shook my head.

"Sorry. In the tunnels there was a dark me," I told him, trying to find the words to describe it, "It was like my shadow, but it attacked me."

Spyro had finally noticed my slashed chest plate, "Cole, take your chest piece off."

I did and Spyro gasped. I glanced down. My chest gem was pale, like a sick flower.

"Cole, what the hell happened?" Spyro whispered, his eyes wide.  
"I got hit by the shadow's sword," I said, frowning, "A piece hit Flash. Wait a second! Spyro, that was just like at the Coliseum!"

But Spyro beat me to it, "Nova! He must be working for the Dark Army!"

My blood ran cold, "Spyro, this is very bad. His power can cut right through steel plate!"

"What is it?" Spyro asked quickly, "Fire?"  
"I don't think so," I shook my head, trying to remember back, "He called it Plasma."  
Spyro frowned, "Never heard of it."  
"Neither had I," I admitted, "Until he melted a dragon down in front of me. Nothing, not even bones remained."  
"What else can he do?" Spyro asked, worried.  
"Other than plasma? He can create…" I thought for a moment, trying to find the words, "beings made of pure energy."  
"And he works for the highest bidder," Spyro finished darkly.

"Yes," I held a hand to my ruined face, "This is real bad. Do you think he will mount an attack?"  
"I don't know," Spyro sighed, "You know him better than I do."  
"Yes I do," I closed my eyes, "…if he does, it will be a big one."  
Spyro's face darkened, "I'll tell the Cheetahs to set up sentries."  
My thoughts had gone blurry again. I was hurt worse than I had first thought. Spyro must have noticed.

"Cole, I will take care of it," he told me, "you need to get some rest."

"But I'm not tired," I slurred. It was a total lie and he knew it.

"Right. Come on, Cole." He led me to the room he had made for me in the Temple.

I fell asleep before I hit the pillow.


	42. Chapter 42 MIA

I woke up with a start; someone had just slammed my door.

"I'm up!" I yelped and turned to see it was Gust who had entered my room.

"Morning, Cole," he had a crooked grin, like a mixture of amusement and worry.

"You too," I greeted, "Why did you slam the door?"

"To wake you up."

I sighed, "Why do I even ask?"

"I don't know," smirked Gust, "why do you?"

We could have, and probably would have, done that all morning if Spyro hadn't opened the door moments later.

"Morning, Spyro," Gust and I said at the same time.

"Well..." said Spyro, "I was going to see if you were ok, but I have my answer."

"What? Spyro, can't you see that Gust and me were having a constructive conversation?" To my credit, I managed to keep a straight face as I said that. But I broke down into laughter seconds later, and so did Spyro and Gust.

"Constructive?" laughed Spyro, shaking his head, and then suddenly turned serious, "Anyway, Cole… one of the Scouts has failed to return."

"Where was he sent?" I asked, the smile dropping off my face.

"Mt. Malefor," said Spyro gravely.

"Great," I muttered, "How long has he been missing?"

"Just over three weeks," he replied, to my surprise.

"Why did we not see him when we scouted the area out?" I asked, frowning,

"Don't know..." Spyro shook his head, "that was all I came to say."

I stood up, stretching, "Well, I'm hungry and I know Gust is. Are you?"

"Yeah."

Together, the three of us went to the...meal room. I ordered a sweet deer; Spyro and Gust did the same. After we finished, I headed back to our house, grabbing Gust on the way. We bid farewell to Spyro and headed off.

"Where are Rumbler and Specter?" I asked as we walked.

"Good question." Gust shrugged. I assumed that meant he didn't know.

"Flash?" I asked instead.

"With Stella." He replied shortly. Should have known.

I hesitated for a moment, my hand absently reaching towards my ruined face, "What do you think the twins will think?"

Gust glanced at me and looked away again before he answered, "They will want to know what happened, for sure."

"I agree," I sighed. We stopped in front of our house, and Gust went in to find that the twins were still sleeping.

I headed for the kitchen, "Gust, I'm going to make them breakfast."

The smell woke them up.

"COLE'S BACK!" I heard them yell, followed by a crash and Gust's voice saying "Easy, you two."

They stopped at the door, as though suddenly frozen. They were staring at me.

"Cole, what is wrong with your eye?" Kia asked timidly.

I looked away, "I got hit."

Comet gaped, "By what?"

I sighed and told them the whole story. When I finished, they clapped and me, being the goofball I am, bowed.

"Wow, Cole, no wonder you're the Commander!" Kia exclaimed. She was acting much older than she was.

"Thank you." I murmured, and then turned to what I had been preparing for them, "Are you going to let this food go to waste?"

They nearly ran me over to get to the food.

"Jeez," I laughed, "didn't Cynder and Specter feed you?"

"Yes, but they aren't good cooks like you," the twins replied together, wolfing down their breakfast.

I grinned, "It couldn't have been that bad."

"What couldn't?" asked Specter as she strode into the kitchen. I jumped and the twins laughed.

"Nothing, Specter," I said quickly.

"Cole wanted to know how bad you cooked," Comet cut in. I gave him a death stare, but he just laughed.

"Did he now?" Specter replied, with great interest and a smirk in her tone. I turned and looked at her. The smirk dropped from her face in an instant, "COLE! Your eye!"

I quickly looked away again, "I know, I know."

"Can you still see?" she asked, aghast.

"Yes," I reassured her, unable to resist turning to her again, "just… not out of that one."

"Cole, you know what I mean," she whispered, her face a mask of guilt and anguish.

"Specter, it is nowhere near as bad as it looks," I tried to tell her.

"But if I had come with you, you would still have both eyes!" She cried, nearly sobbing.

"Specter," I tried to reason with her, "we all make choices we regret; me more than most. But, this was not your fault. I chose to go. If you had gone, you could have been hurt as well."

Specter wouldn't hear it, "Cole, how can you say that!"

"Because, if you can stay behind and stop fighting, then we all can. And because you didn't have to see it. You have enough nightmares already," I told her gently. She looked down and I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"Specter, it's ok," was all I could say to comfort her.

"Cole, you deserve some time to yourself," she said, turning away, "now you have some."

I guess she was right. But my luck never held.

"I'll try and relax, Specter," I promised her.

"Good," her voice was husky and she wouldn't look at me as she left the room, "that would be best for you."


	43. Chapter 43 Lockdown

Chapter 43: Lockdown

I had no idea what I was going to do with my spare time, so I went to one of the many blacksmith's to see if I could be of any help. The smith accepted the help gratefully. I wanted to try forging dragon armour, but had to settle with forging swords. I'm pretty good with swords, but not so much with axes or other weapons. I spent nearly four hours forging, until he ran out of steel.

Then I left for the garden, just to relax. But as soon as I sat down, a sentinel came running up. Why do I even try?

"Sir! Nova requests you!" he gasped.

I tensed up, "Tell Spyro to gather the Warriors and get the rest of the city to the Temple."

If Nova was here, things would move fast and not in a direction I wanted.

"Yes sir!" He said smartly and ran in the direction of the Temple.

I looked around, "Nova, I know you're here! Show yourself!"

The air shimmered and not ten feet in front of me stood Nova. He smiled at me, a simpering smirk filled with false innocence.

"How did you know I was here?" he asked, though he didn't seem very interested in the answer.

"Nova, what do you want?" I said, completely ignoring his question.

"A simple request," Nova said, showing his fangs in a smile, "Join the Dark Army, along with the warriors of Warfang, or perish in the battle to come."

"You're bluffing," I snorted. For all of his faults, he had never harmed anyone that couldn't defend themselves.

"Am I?" I didn't like the look in his eye, "We shall see. Your choice: join and serve; or fight and die."

I clenched my fists, "Leave."

He looked almost disappointed; almost. But there was a strange glimmer of sadistic glee in his eyes, "Goodbye, Cole. Their deaths will be on your head."

Nova disappeared and I sprinted for the Temple.

"SPYRO! Prepare for an attack!" I yelled when I spotted him.

"Cole, what is it?" Spyro asked anxiously. He could tell I was worried.

"Nova is mounting an attack," I told him quickly, "Is there any way to lockdown the city?"

Spyro hesitated, "Yes, but we will need a massive amount of electricity."

"I can handle that. Prepare the warriors and get all the citizens to the Temple." I couldn't have them in harm's way, and the Temple was the strongest building in the city, not to mention the biggest.

Spyro turned and ran and I heard him yelling at the moles to gather everyone. In about four hours, all of those living in Warfang were crowded into the Temple. Satisfied, but worried, I looked to Spyro.

"Ok, Spyro, now the lockdown."

He turned to the assembled dragons, "Anyone that can control lightning, come with me."

Fifty or so yellow and blue dragons stepped forward. We headed into a part of the Temple I hadn't ever been to before. The room was massive and had an enormous metal bar in the centre of the room. Only briefly did I wonder what it was for, before Spyro spoke.

"Now hit that with all the power you can," He said grimly. The air glowed and the smell of ozone was over powering as the electric dragons charged and fired their energy. All the electricity hit the pole and it glowed a blinding white.

Spyro nodded, "The city is now surrounded in an invisible energy barrier."

"Now we fight an army, huh?" Flash and Stella looked worried. No, they were afraid, I realised. We all were.

"Yes. But we still need someone to guard them," I said, referring to the citizens holed up in the temple. I couldn't think of who, though.

"We will," came Flame's voice. He had walked in with Ember close behind.

I looked them up and down, "Ok. Keep them safe."

"We will," Flame promised, "Cole, give them hell for me, will you?"

"Can do, Flame," I smiled wryly.

"Good luck," said the pink dragoness.

"Thanks, Ember. I only hope we won't need it."

"Don't we all?"

As Spyro and I headed out of the room, Specter found us. I looked at her in surprise, "You're not coming, are you?"

"No," she looked away, "Cole, I'm done with all the killing; the hate."

I gave her a hug and murmured, "I'm proud of you, Specter."

I felt her body shaking with fear, "Good luck, Cole."

"Thank you," I said, releasing her. I could feel her eyes watching us leave, as Spyro and I went to retrieve our armour.

"This is going to be a tough one, isn't it?" the purple dragon sighed, fitting his armour over his scales.

I wasn't about to lie, "Yes. It will be."

"Come on, Cole," said Gust as he strode into the room. He was in his armour, the blade on the end of his tail spinning lethally.

"Close quarter combat, for once?" I grinned at him.

He laughed, "Yes. If you're on the front lines, then so am I."

"The more, the better," I replied grimly.

Fully armoured and ready for what we were about to face, we headed to the main gate. The horizon was dark, obscured by the opposing army that waited, ready for it all to begin. Nova hadn't wasted any time.

One way or another, this would be the end. It was them, or us. Someone would stop the fighting; me, or Nova.


	44. Chapter 44 Judgment Day

The Dark Army fought hard and fast, but it was an uphill battle for them. The first waves were just Grublins and Defenders. They fell easily. Then came the wolves and…something else. I'm not sure what they were. They looked like wingless dragons and yet they could still fly. Our warriors didn't give them an inch. After hours of fighting, less and less soldiers charged us. Suddenly, they stopped charging at all and began to retreat.

"SPYRO!" I roared to the purple dragon as I observed something strange in the night sky.  
"I see it too," I heard him hiss back, his eyes fixed on the skies.

It was well into the night, but a single star far above us was getting bigger and brighter by the second. Soon it looked like a second sun.

"COLE!" shouted a horrible voice, "YOU REFUSED MY OFFER! THIS IS THE RESULT!"

The star was burning brightly, roaring a song of death as it ripped through the great energy shield and hit the Temple. The sound was worse than anything I've ever heard. The flash was brighter than the sun, blinding me and everyone around me. When I could see again, there was nothing left of the great city except a mushroom cloud of dust rising hauntingly into the air. Another star shot over our heads and struck again, destroying the memorial. I was numb.

"SPECTER!" Rumbler screeched as he ran towards the destroyed city. I grabbed him as he tried to run passed, holding tight to his struggling form.

"COLE, LET ME GO!" he roared, thrashing and flailing in his desperation, "SPECTER!"

His tail club dented my armor and cracked my bones, inflicting great bruises upon my body. But I refused to let him go. I could feel my eyes burning – was it with tears or from the dust that the explosion had kicked up? Rumbler didn't stop struggling. He continued to scream Specter's name, but I knew she wouldn't hear it.

"RETREAT!" Spyro was roaring above the sound of screams.

I held tight to Rumbler and super-charged my body, pulling all of the energy that I could out of the air. I intended to phase out of here, but I extended the range to cover my army as well. There was a massive bang and we were gone, leaving only dust where I, my army, and Warfang had once stood.

I had no destination in mind, but we phased back into reality just above the ocean. There was a tremendous splash as forty dragons and myself hit the water. I resurfaced with a gasp and looked around frantically. The purple dragon was treading water not far away. I swam to him.

"S-Spyro?" I choked, water running into my mouth. But he just stared into the distance, his eyes wide and haunted. He was in shock – completely unresponsive.

"SPYRO! Come on!" I heard a familiar voice yell as Cynder paddled over to us. Thank the Ancestors she was alive.

"C-Cynder, he…he's in shock," I stammered, treading water to keep myself afloat. Spyro did not respond.

"I know. C-Cole, we lost thousands," Cynder whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she choked up, unable to say more. Both of us, we did not feel regret. But the death of thousands – innocent lives – killed us inside.

"I know," my voice cracked, "I know. Cynder, do you know where we can…we can regroup?"

Cynder stared down into the depths of the water we were floating in as she replied in a hushed whisper, "My old fortress?"  
"You had a fortress?" I asked, stunned and confused.  
"Yes, back…back when I was Malefor's slave," She replied in a trembling whisper.

"I know, Cynder," I reassured her, knowing her past still pained her, "Where?"

This was no time for regret. Later…later we would.

"I can't be sure but…north?" she wondered and then her voice hardened with confidence as she repeated, "North from here."

"Thank you, Cynder," I said gently and then turned to the rest of my floating army, "Heroes!"

They turned and I saw their broken expressions, their forlorn faces dripping with blood and seawater. I closed my eyes briefly and opened them again.

"Can you fly?" I asked, swallowing the lump in my throat.  
In response, every one of them took flight. The bigger dragons carried cheetahs and moles.

"You," I directed at a massive red dragon.

He turned to me, "Yes, sir?"

"What is your name?" I asked gently, seeing how shaken he was.  
"Furno, sir," he stammered.  
"Furno," I requested, "Can you carry Spyro and my friend here?"

I gestured at Rumbler, who had been floating next to me staring blankly into space. He looked as shell-shocked as Spyro, his eyes sunken with horror. It was a wonder he didn't just sink and disappear into the depths of the ocean. Furno nodded.  
"Yes sir," he responded, swooping down to gather Spyro and Rumbler into his massive red paws.

"Cynder," I turned to the black dragoness, "do you need help?"  
"No! I can take care of myself!" she snapped, then faltered, realizing how she sounded. She looked away, "I'm sorry. So…so many are dead and now…now I'm going to a place I hoped I would never see again."

I wanted to comfort her, but now was not the time, "I know, but we need a base of operations."

She sighed heavily and nodded reluctantly. Together, we took flight out of the ocean, water streaming off our scaled bodies as we took to the air. We headed to the front of the flock of dragons. They seemed to be waiting for someone. A leader.

"Lead the way, Cynder," I instructed, and she did so without complaint.

Cynder flew at a faster pace than normal, as though she was trying to escape her own demons. Some struggled, but none complained. I watched her with concern, until my attention was brought elsewhere.

"Cole!" Gust, Flash and Stella flew up behind me. I winged back until I was flying beside them.

"Thank the Ancestors you're all right," I sighed, sweeping my gaze over them.

Stella was extremely pale, her normally yellow cheeks as white as death, "Cole, F-Flame and…"

"I know," I whispered as she trailed off.  
"Cole…is Specter…?" Gust tried to ask, but he choked up and couldn't continue.  
"Yes," I replied, trying to keep my emotions at bay as I added, "So are the twins."

My god-children.

"Cole, what are we going to do?" Stella whimpered, her eyes filling with tears.

"I don't know, ok!" I snapped suddenly, my frustration and grief reaching breaking point, "You're the Guardian, you figure it out!"

She looked like I had hit her. I hesitated and looked down, ashamed.

"I-I'm sorry, Stella, it's just too much," I choked, blinking furiously as I tried to hold back tears, "It was all just too much. They threw the single biggest blow that we…no, _anyone_ has ever felt. It's…too much…"

"I know," was all Stella could reply.

The rest of us flew in silence, as though our spirits, too, had perished in the battle. And yet, there was only one thought running through my head. So many were dead and there was only one to blame.

"Nova, I'm coming for you."

Today was Judgment Day – the beginning of the end.

In killing so many innocents, Nova had unleashed a beast that wouldn't stop until he was dead. One way or another, he had unleashed me.


	45. Chapter 45 Concurrent Skies

Chapter 45: Concurrent Skies

After hours of flying, we finally arrived at Cynder's fortress. We stood for several awed moments, taking in the sights of the cold, unforgiving landscape. A tall, cruel-looking black fortress towered over all; the Terror of the Skies' old roost.

"Concurrent Skies; the place where hope comes to die," said a voice.

I looked at Cynder, "Charming place. Now, how will we occupy it?"

Cynder gazed across the landscape, split by great outcroppings of cold-looking crystals, "First, we must disarm the traps."

"Traps?" I hadn't expected that, "Like what?"

She looked worried, "Cole, this place invades the minds of intruders, and breaks them from the inside out."

I grimaced, "Sounds like a place not to go into alone. With Spyro in shock, I'm coming with you."

"Cole," Cynder warned, as though she was about to protest.

"I'm coming with," I repeated stubbornly.

She snorted, "Fine. But we go tomorrow."

Then she left me and went to find Spyro, I imagine. I went to find Gust. He was looing after Rumbler and looked tired and worn out.

"How is Rumbler holding out?" I asked, just as there was a bang from beside us, "Not good. DUCK!"

We both hit the ground just as a boulder went flying past us, narrowly missing our heads. Gust grimaced and picked himself up.

"He is having a hell of a time."

I sighed, "We all are."

"Cole, how did this happen?" Gust asked, turning his eyes on me. He wanted to know why so many had died; he wanted to know who to blame, who to hate.

I said a single word; a name. "Nova."

Gust's eyes widened, "He caused this?"

"Yes," I glared into the darkness, "and he will die for it."

Gust's face darkened, "Yes, he will."

We talked for a bit, and tried to comfort the others. Many were in various stages of shock and mourning.

Furno approached us, holding a small tree. He looked like he had been crying as he stammered, "C-Cole, c-can you light this?"

His request confused me, but I didn't refuse him, "Yes." I lit the tree with flames and it burned like an over-sized torch.

"Come with me, please," Furno requested shakily. He took me to a clearing surrounded by dead and dying trees, and dropped the burning tree. As it hit the ground, white hot flames raced across the sandy earth.

"Never forget those lost," Furno murmured.

I blinked, "Huh?"

"That is what it says," he said softly. The ground had turned to glass.

"Oh..." I swallowed the lump in my throat, "Take care of yourself, Furno."

He gave me a sad look, "You too, Commander."

I walked to one of the camps that had been set up and sat around the fire. A red dragon approached me, shaking and pale.

"S-sir what are we going to do?" He stammered. He was young; come to think of it, he looked like Flame.

"I don't know. I just don't know," I admitted gently. And I lay down and fell asleep.

The next morning, Cynder woke me up. Her face was taut and serious, and I knew it was time to venture into her fortress and disabled these traps she had mentioned. We headed for the tower. About a mile away from our camps, the ground turned to crystal.

"Cynder, how is this possible?" I asked, staring at the smooth glassy surface beneath my feet. Outcroppings of crystal rose all around us.

"This, Cole, is the reason I originally chose this place," Cynder replied mysteriously, but I noticed she didn't look too happy with herself.

"Are these spirit gems?" I asked with a sudden jolt of realisation.

"Yes..." she started to say, then froze, "Cole, don't move."

I immediately froze. There was a buzzing sound and next thing I knew, I was being pulled into a cloud of shadow. Cynder and I popped up a few feet from where we had been standing before. The ground where I had been standing was smoking.

"Cynder, what was that?" I asked, confused.

"Dummy sentries," she explained grimly, "They fry anything that crosses their beams."

I looked at the still smoking ground and realized how close I had come to becoming popcorn.

"Thank you," I said awkwardly. Cynder acknowledged me with a nod of her head.

"That was the first defence," she told me, "We have a long way to go."

We continued forward, dodging the light. When I asked her why we couldn't just shadow walk or fly, she told me to pick up a stone and throw it up. Below us was a single wire, but it had an enormous charge in it. Not even shadow walking would help us. The rock I threw was hit by three beams of light in mid air and turned to dust.

"Ok, so death course it is," I muttered, with a grim smile. She just gave me an odd look and I asked, "Cynder, how far?"

"Not far," she said just as a spike shot out of the ground. I caught it and threw it away from us with all my might. Less than a second later, it exploded.

Cynder strolled to a stop, "Cole, here we are."

We were standing at the base of the tower, gazing towards its thick black doors. To say it was big was an understatement. It dwarfed the Temple by a lot.

"How do we open the door?" I wondered curiously, striding forwards to touch it.

"Just like this," Cynder said, then opened her mouth. She started screaming and the door flew open in response. I jumped back.

"Jeez, that was loud," I grumbled, rubbing my ears.

Cynder looked back at me, standing in the threshold of the door, "Coming, Cole?"

I walked forwards, straight into what could have been hell.


	46. Chapter 46 Mind games

"Cole you must keep as little on your mind as possible."  
"Ok Cynder." I only had one thought. Killing Nova. I ignited my hand and looked beside me. Cynder was gone.

"Cynder? Cynder where are you?"

"COLE!" I heard someone scream. I took off running in the direction "COLE HELP ME!"

I stopped dead it was Specter "S-Specter? You're dead."  
"Do I look dead?"  
"N-no you don't"

Her scales darkened and her body got larger "But you will be"

She lunged at me and I acted on reflex. Drawing my swords I swung and hit her chest. She went flying and I heard a thunk, then nothing.

"Specter?"  
"Cole Specter is dead." The location around me changed. I was back in the entrance "Cole are you ok?"  
"Uh...Let me get back to you on that."

"Cole what did you see?"  
"S-specter attacked me...I killed her."  
"Cole it wasn't real"  
I drew my swords "Not real?" there was blood on them still wet.

"This place has gotten stronger...we must hurry." Cynder had a scared look on her face. That alone terrified me.

"Yes we must get through."

"Cole I will lead."  
"No. Any traps I should worry about?"  
"Pressure plates, trip wires, rigged explosives" The plates would be a problem so would the explosives.

Half an hour later and over two dozen traps we arrived in the core of the castle. There was a massive black sprit gem, in the center. "Cynder do I destroy that?"  
No response "Cynder?" She was standing right behind me but she was absolutely still. She was barley even breathing "Cynder?" I reached out to try and snap her out of it but the second I touched her horns my vision blurred and I was somewhere else.

The place looked...dead is the best way I could describe it.

"Cynder! Where are you?" my voice echoed off of nothing. I took to the skies. I saw a small black dot about a mile away. Very good considering I only had one eye. The dot turned out to be Cynder.

"Cynder?" she looked like Cynder but not the one I knew. By my guess she was about fifteen at max.

"Do I know you?"  
"Yes imp Cole."  
"Are you one of the Dark army's soldiers?"  
"No. Are you?" The next thing I knew she was trying to bite my arm off.

"CYNDER STOP!" Spyro yelled. Major Déjà vu.

"Thank you Spyro."  
"Who are you?" I ignored him and looked at Cynder. "Cynder this isn't real."  
"H-how can this not be real? Look at this place its beautiful."  
I looked around and it was in fact beautiful. Not the hell it looked like when I arrived. More like an oasis.

"Cynder we are in Concurrent Skies. Trying to shut it down."  
She got the look I usually had when I was arguing with myself.

"Y...Your right." there was a pop and we were back in the core.

"Cole see that crystal?"  
"Yes."  
"Make it go away."  
I grinned beneath my armor "With pleasure." I super charged my body and ran at it, slicing my swords through it. There was a bang ant the crystal exploded.

"There we go." Torches lit up everywhere lighting the Castle.

"Cole now it's safe to get everyone." As I headed for the camps I thought myself. Warriors have rulers, we didn't have a ruler, or the Guardians anymore. Now we were rebels. We would take our City back and I would have my revenge.


	47. Chapter 47 Spies

"Wow. So you've been here before?" I asked Spyro

"Yes, But last time I was here everything including the walls were trying to kill me."

I chuckled. We had been in the Castle for just over a week. It was big enough to hold over three thousand comfortably.

"Spyro what are we going to do?" I had a few ideas but hopefully his would be better.

"I don't know. As far as we know we're all that's left."  
"Very bad...hm we have hidden allies somewhere don't we?" I really didn't want to go with my idea.

"Most if not all of the Cheetahs were with us." his face fell "Cole...I'm supposed to be their savior. But we have lost."  
It shocked me to hear him say this. "Like hell we have, Spyro your still alive, I'm still alive and we have an army." my voice quieted "Spyro I know how we can turn the tides. But you're not going to like it."

"What is it Cole?" he asked his voice had an edge to it.

"Terror warfare, Assians, spies anything that will help us."  
"Cole there is no..."

"If you say honor I'm going to hit you." I said interrupting him

"Well I was going to say that but not now"

"Spyro you and I both know that there is no honor in war. Period."

"Where and when?" Spyro asked

"We have no plans, that in its own is a plan. We strike randomly at night, Thirty seconds and we are gone. In those thirty we cause as much hell as we can and kill anything that isn't our own troops. Do we have any troops that are trained in stealth?"

He thought for a few seconds "Three that I can think of."

"Ok. Mind getting them?" He left to get them "DAMN! Nova what the hell caused you to do that?"  
"Caused me to do what?"

I spun around and drew one of my swords at the same time.

"Big mistake Nova!" I slashed at him but my swords passed right through him.

"Hey Cole, just one thing. I'm not here."

I groaned "Beautiful. I've finally cracked."

"Not yet. He still has plans for you."

That sparked my interest "He who?"  
"The Dark master of course. Malefor"

My blood ran cold "Impossible, He has been dead for over a decade."

"Believe what you want, just remember what happened last time."

He disappeared "Cole?"

"Uh...How did i get on the floor?"

"I don't know. Here they are Cole."

Three dragons all dark colored dark but none of them black "At ease." They all let out a breath.

"Names?"

The Deep red one spoke first "My name is shadow sir." His voice was deep and loud.  
The next one. The color was...well the best i could think of was wet sand. "I'm whisper." I was surprised. Whisper was a female and lived up to her name.

The last one came up "I'm Wraith." He was the biggest of them all. At least as big as Furno maybe bigger. His body was midnight black with whit speckles over his chest.

"According to Spyro you're the best at stealth we have. Prove it." I turned around for about five seconds.

When i turned around they were gone. "Nice, now to see how good you are." I looked around. They were still here, just hidden.

"See them Spyro?" I saw something move in the corner of my eye.

"No and i have two eyes."

"Hm?" IO reached out to touch the wall i had seen move. "I found one of them." I touched it and Whisper appeared.

"Active cameo? How can you do that?"

"She can't" I heard Wraith say. i looked up. Wraith was on the ceiling.

"Yes. You three will do quite nicely."

"What do you want us to do sir?"  
"Spy behind enemy lines; Kill any Dark Army generals that you find. But if your discovered don't hide, don't fight, haul ass back here. Understood?"

"Sir yes Sir!"

"Dismissed."  
I turned Spyro was Grinning "What?"  
"Nothing General."  
"It's Commander!" We both burst out laughing. Any seriousness gone.


	48. Chapter 48 Black Ops

It was nearly three months and twenty thousand Dark Army kills later; but that wasn't without our own losses. We had lost seven warriors in that time, Furno being one of them. One day, a mole sentry came to see me.

"Sir, the Leviathans haven't returned," he reported. The Leviathans was the name given to Wraith's squad. They were the best of the best, with more kills than even me.

"How long have they been gone?" I asked the mole.

"Two weeks, sir," he replied, looking worried.

"I gave them three."  
His face turned bright red, "Sorry, sir."  
"It's ok," I said and he left. It's funny, every time I send them out, someone gets worried.

I went to find Spyro; he was training some of the younger warriors.

"Spyro," I called as I approached. He turned and looked at me.

"Practice what I just showed you," he said to his students and pulled me out of the room.

"Where are you going?" he asked, surprising me

"That obvious, huh?" I asked. I still wasn't sure how he did that.  
"Yes, Cole," Spyro said impatiently, "Now, where are you going?"

"To where Warfang once was," I replied darkly. I honestly wasn't sure if he would let me go.  
Spyro sighed, "I'm not going to try and stop you. Just be careful, will you?"

"I will be, Spyro. Take care of them until I get back," I started to walk away, before I decided to add, "Oh yeah, don't worry about the Leviathans." With that, I left him to figure out what I meant.

Over these three months, we had all been training in the advanced forms of our elements. Fire to Plasma; Lightning to pure, undefined energy; Ice to absolute zero chill; Shadow to invisibility; Fear to sound; Poison to acid; Wind to master hurricanes; and earth to summon earthquakes. Sound came easiest to me.

Sound; what a horrible power. Able to turn metal and bone to dust, and rip the mind apart.

I went to my room to get my armour and found someone already there.

"Cole, where are you going?" Gust was in my room. He was the only one with any time to see me on a regular basis.

"I'm going to Warfang," I told him shortly, donning my armour.  
"You're looking for her, aren't you?" Gust asked softly. He didn't have to say her name for me to know who he was talking about.

"Yes," I admitted, "There has to be something left. I know there is."  
"I know, Cole. Just be careful," Gust pleaded, "I don't want to lose another friend."  
"You too," I replied, "And you won't lose me."

I had my armour on, and drew in a massive amount of power. I phased out and popped up around ten miles away from Warfang. I had a bow made of scrap steel; not the best, but it would work.

I turned invisible; it was dark out, so it didn't take as much energy. The Dark Army had set up patrols of two. Every time I passed one, they stopped and looked right at me. They knew I was there, I swear. After three hours of sneaking around, I saw the start of the crater where Warfang had once been.

I crawled up to the rim and looked down. What I saw shocked me beyond belief.

Dragons, at least a hundred of them; all chained together around a massive drill boring into the earth. I simply gaped.

"What the hell are they drilling for?" I whispered to myself.

My eyes fell on a big, light blue dragon. It was Storm. It was then that I made up my mind that it was time for an offensive. I saw many of the high ranking Shadow dragons, but I couldn't find Nova.

There was one dragon that stuck out: Blackdeath. I had met him once before and he still had the wounds from our last encounter. But he wouldn't survive this one. I drew one of the poisoned arrows, the same I had used to kill Blackout, and took aim. The arrow flew right into his chest.

Then the screaming started.


	49. Chapter 49 Infinite power

**Chapter 49: Infinite Power**

Then the screaming started, but that's the story of my life, isn't it? I took quick aim and hit as many of the generals as I could, before the dark soldiers returned their own volley of arrows. I put my bow back and drew my swords. Spinning them, I shredded most of the arrows, but a few hit my armour. I charged down the crater, killing anything stupid enough to get in my way. At the bottom of the crater, I was surrounded on three sides. To put it in perspective, I had a good three or four hundred Dark Army soldiers coming at me.

I decided to see if all that training was worth it. Considering how close they were together, and that they were wearing metal armour, I decided lightning would be the best. I called all the energy I could and sent it into the sky. Out of the blue came a blinding light and a bang. A bolt of lightning had hit the largest group, killing a good hundred of them, but more just kept coming.

I clapped my hands together and a shockwave of pure, unforgiving sound erupted out of my palms. The warriors cringed and many fell, ears and eyes bleeding. But they just kept coming. I decided to use my normal, now. My body charged and my swords flaming, I charged the small army, feeling swords and clubs hit my armour. Then this massive armoured…thing came charging towards me.

I called all my powers into one beam in my hands. The beam was dark purple, not the rainbow I had expected. The beam rippled the air and ripped the thing apart. I was thinking that this would be useful. I spread my arms in a wide arc, the purple beams ripping the soldiers apart. I ran to the chained dragons and willed the chains to break. They snapped easily. Storm came running up to me.

"C-Cole?" he was thin, pale, and shaken.

"Yes, Storm," my voice was echoing strangely, "Do you know where Concurrent Skies is?"  
"Yes…why?"  
"That's where our base is now," I told him and gestured to the rest of the formerly chained dragons, "Take them there."  
"COLE!" I heard two voices yell. It was Kia and Comet. Both were pale and thin, but much alive. I felt a warm feeling of relief burst in my chest. But now was not the time for reunions.

"It's so good to see you," I told them quickly, "But you must leave. Now!"

All the dragons took flight and were gone, leaving me alone in the crater with the drill.

"Good. Now to take these down," I said to myself.

My body started glowing with a murky purple aura. With my wings out, I looked like an angel of death. I flew to the top of the massive drill and landed in more or less the middle of it. Still spinning, it would help me greatly. I called a massive amount of power into my body. Using my claws as focus points, beams of dark purple energy criss-crossed over the entire crater. Nothing survived.

"Wow, Cole, I'm impressed," an all too familiar voice said from nowhere.

"Nova, show yourself!" I roared. Then it was like someone had flicked a switch in my mind. I saw all that was around me at once. From the front, from the back, from the side, as though I had eyes all over my body. But, most importantly, I saw Nova.

"Nova, I see you," I hissed.

"And I you," said a voice in my ear.

I sent a massive blast right behind me, but it hit nothing. The twins had fled; nothing was holding me back now. I was going to kill him. I called more and more power into my body, and the aura around me turned black. Power like never before surged through my veins.

It was on.


	50. Chapter 50 Darkness Falls

**Chapter 50: Darkness Falls**

My father always told me that too much power was bad for anyone. It turns out he was right.

I was still on top of the massive drill, scanning for Nova to pop up. I saw the form of a dragon hiding in a small cave hollowed out in the crater, but took no notice. Then I saw Nova, but not the way I expected to. He was phase walking, yet he wasn't a lightning dragon. None of this mattered to me, except that my prey was near.

I sent a blast at him, but it went right through him. I was blinded by my rage and slightly insane from the power I now controlled. The purple beam drilled a hole miles long in the crater wall, but Nova remained.

"You're going to have to do better than that to hit me!" he said, mocking me. Me; the most powerful being in the world! He would pay.

"Better? Try this!" My voice startled me, well what was left of me, hiding in the back of my mind. A monster had taken control of my body and I was forced to watch. I charged a bolt of lightning in my palm and, as more went into it, it changed from yellow, to blue, to black.

Nova must have known that something very bad was about to happen. He appeared behind me and hit my back with a blast of plasma. It melted through my armour and scales, stopping at my hyper dense bone. I felt nothing except a sudden numbness.

The bolt of lightning came down from the sky, black and hissing. It hit the massive drill and shocked both Nova and myself. The drill absorbed most of the jolt and Nova went flying. The drill groaned as cracks spider-webbed across its surface, and I jumped. It exploded with terrifying force.

My armour absorbed most of the shrapnel, but so did my wings. I fell towards the cracked earth, but caught myself with a jet of fire just in time.

"Damn, Cole, you're getting stronger by the second," snarled Nova. He was right behind me.

Fast as thought, I drew one of my swords and slashed at him…only, it wasn't him. It was a dragon; the same dragon who had been hiding in the crater. The same dragon who had been one of my closest friends.

"Cole…why?" It was Specter. Now she lay on the ground, bleeding from a huge gash in her chest. She coughed blood as her life faded from her eyes.

"Good riddance, I never liked her mind games," Nova's voice taunted in my ear.

I lost what little control I had left, and began firing randomly in every direction. Nova jumped over one beam and blasted my chest with plasma. It chewed through my thick chest plate and my scales. Most of the scales on my chest were gone, but my gem remained. But his attack came at a cost. Nova was dazed from the power required to fuel his blast. I took that chance.

The beam I fired only grazed him, but it was enough. Dark energy coursed through him, and he glowed brighter and brighter until, suddenly, he was gone. Nova was dead.

But so was Specter. And I couldn't allow that.

The energy around me had turned back to purple, instead of black. I flooded my healing gem with energy. My ribs began to heal and grow muscle, but I forced it back into my hands.

I lay my hands on Specter, begging, "Heal, heal please."

My healing gem turned black in an instant, but I continued to push more power into it. One by one my gems went black, but I drew more and more energy from the air until I had nothing left.

Her eyes snapped open and I fell. The last thing I heard before my world went black was a voice; a soft and gentle voice.

'_Sleep now, hero, your day is done.'_


	51. Chapter 51 9 Lives

I knew only three things: My name, that I was being carried, and that I was fading fast. I was fading in and out of consciousness. My armour and torso were scorched and charred, my chest completely burnt away, but I lived on. I wouldn't die; a voice kept saying, "Stay with me, Cole, stay with me."

My entire body was numb, as though it had given up, so I heard things rather than felt them. I was cold; so cold. The flapping sound stopped and I heard the sound of what was left of my armour scraping against scale and rock.

The one that was carrying me was yelling for help; yelling for me. My vision had faded to a small plane, and I saw something big and purple run in and out of my vision before I could register what it was. When that too failed me, I was left alone in the dark. I could still hear but the sounds were muffled, like I was floating underwater. There was one thought in my head.

'No! I won't die!'

But my luck may have just run out. Then I felt something warm on my face, which surprised me. Energy bloomed in my mind as my body began to heal itself. But then it stopped and I felt strangely empty. No more energy came.

"H…hello?" I coughed, thinking I was dead.

"Cole, your time here is not yet finished. We cannot allow you to die," murmured a soft, gentle voice in my ear. It was the voice of a dragoness I couldn't remember.

"You have a war to fight and win, soldier," said an old, hoarse voice in my other ear. I felt like I should have remembered him, but could not.

"You must live to fight again," They said together, their voices merging strangely.

There was a sharp sound and I drew in a huge breath, just as another jolt rocked my body.

"Flash, you did it!" A voice exclaimed, deep and rumbling. "You saved him!"

I opened my eyes and saw a crowd of concerned dragons looking down on me. They were familiar to my confused senses.

"Cole? Can you hear me?" asked the purple one.

"Y…Yeah…Spyro?" I asked, the name popping into my head.

"Yes, Cole, you must rest," he said, and I obliged.

"Is he going to be okay?" I heard a gentle voice ask as I fell into comforting darkness.

"I don't know, Specter. But he is a fighter. He should be fine." That was all I heard before I fell into sleep's warm embrace.

"Cole? Cole?" I heard someone calling my name. Sleep fell away from my mind.

"G…Gust? That you?" I asked slowly.

"Yes…You saved them, Cole," Gust said, "The dragons, I mean. And you found Specter. I swear, you have more lives than a cat."

"No," I swallowed with difficulty, remembering, "Gust, my luck ran out. Ghost, Stago, they saved me."

"No, Flash saved you, Cole," Gust corrected, frowning, "He restarted your heart. But, your armour…it's, well, it's destroyed."

My heart sunk at the news. But I knew I could fix it. I had done so before, and I would do so again. I shook my head, "I'm alive…That's what matters, Gust."

"Yeah…you are, Cole, you are," Gust smiled, relieved, "Now sleep, man, you need it."

"But I just woke…" I protested, but a glare from Gust shut me up. I lay back down and my exhausted body fell easily back into sleep.


	52. Chapter 52 Poloshing

_So sorry my friends for not updating, But im back and here for your pleasure._

When I finally woke up I was in my room, So was Gust sleeping on the floor looking like a giant, blue cat. "Eh Gust, wake up, Your supposed to say good morning." I Said then groaned at my body's protest to even talking.

"Sorry Cole." Gust said with a toothy yawn.

"Where is everyone?" I asked straining my neck to see around.

"Well…" He thought for a second "Spyro is debriefing the Leviathans. Cynder is training I think, Rumbler and Specter are just walking around, Flash and Stella are…somewhere." He said then took a breath

"Breath man Breath." I Laughed "Not much surprise out of any of that. What happened when I was gone?" I wasn't sure how long I had been away total.

"Well Mason showed up out of nowhere." Gust beamed, he knew that me and Mason were friends "Whisper got hit in the side but she is ok now." I Figured, she was small but built like a brick… albeit a very fast, silent brick. "And other than that not much else, no raids as of yet." Gust finished.

I tried to sit up only succeeding in hurting my torso area more "Gust mind helping me up?" I Muttered.

"Cole, Nova did a lot of damage and your…Not going to listen to a word are you?" He said, knowing how I was.

"Probably not." I Confessed.

"Ok hold still." He grabbed one of my arms and tugged me into a sitting position.

"Thanks." I said stretching my arms and legs "My armor?" I Know Nova had probably done insane amounts of damage to it before I put him down, But I've fixed it before.

"Its in Mason's shop waiting for you to fix it." HE said then got a look that said 'shouldn't of said that.'

I laughed "Well no time like the present." I said and tried to stand "Eh… Gust? Mind helping me please?"

He sighed and lowered his head for me to use as a crutch as sorts. "Dang Cole, your heavy." Gust said

"Am Not!" I protested and Gust laughed. "To Mason's we go." He said leading me through the maze of hallways that made up the castle. "Well this is it." Gust said as we approached a room with loads of smoke pouring out from the door, Gust opened the door and blew most of the smoke away and there standing by his forge was Mason.

"Gust you know that's cold." HE said before turning around.

"Who says Gust did it?" I Laughed and Mason whipped around "Cole? Eh your not dead yet?" He said but was clearly happy to see me.

"Why dose everyone always say that? Am I really that accident prone?" I muttered

"Yes." Gust and Mason said at the same time.

"Cole want to see your armor…Or what's left of it?" Mason said.

"Ya, might help fixing it." I Said as he brought out what was left of it "Damn…why is the arm all messed up?" I Wondered

"Spyro tried to fix it." Gust laughed.

"Mason? Can you try and fix that, ill need a while to work on the Chest…and all of it." I Said and he eagerly nodded.

"Ill help him if I can." Gust said following Mason to the forge.

"And now its just me and the chest. Man what a mess." I Said to myself and set to work on it. I tried to patch the huge hole with normal steel but no matter how hot I got it, it wouldn't fuse. So I scrapped that idea. I was thinking maybe seeing as how the star steel came from the sky, some might of hit on the island. Well there wasn't any on the island, The whole island was a huge chunk of the stuff, like a small star had hit here, and Cynder built her Castel on it. No wonder this place seemed like it shouldn't be on this world. After I fixed the chest plate I managed to melt the helmet back together and fix the porthole, then I decided to check on Gust and Mason. They had made little progress in even taking the arm apart, Mason was on one end holding the hand and pulling, Gust on the other holding it in his mouth "Careful Gust, you don't know where that's been." I Laughed.

He turned slightly green and let go of the arm, Mason who had been tugging with all he had went flying. "You Ok Mason?" I Asked helping him up

"I'm fine I'm fine." He grumbled dusting himself off.

"Need any help?" I Asked and received a glare from both of them "Yes? No? I'm confused." I laughed.

"A bit of help would be nice." Mason admitted.

"Ok then." I Said grabbing one end "Mason Gust hold the other." I Said and pulled, the metal let out a shrill sound as it gave way "Finally." I muttered holding the hand up "Now we just need to polish the chest and helm right?" Mason asked and Gust perked up "I Can do that!" He shouted and grabbed the plate, taking it over to a tub of weak acid "No don't!" Mason and I yelled. There was a Boom and we heard Gust say "Whoops."

_Longish chap for ya to enjoy, Ill be updating weekly now I hope, Read and Review my friends. Im Back!_


	53. Chapter 53: Tough Call

_Oh gods, it's been nearly two years. I'm so sorry and will do my absolute best to finish this story._

"Cole, Cole, Cole are you listening?" Spyro asked impatiently, tapping my head softly with his wing. I had been daydreaming in a war conference—well, it was not so much war as it was skirmishing now. Weeks had passed without any major conflict.

"Nope. Sorry, Spyro," I said, shrugging. I had been more and more focused on my slowly waning control over all but my power of Sound. Fire had gone, as well as my control over basic Fear and Shadow. My gems were dimming one by one until they were clear. The only one that shone strong was the one in my chest. I had the power to heal and the power to cripple. Great.

"Please try harder, we're kinda trying to figure out how to win this war."

We had given up on the search for Flame and Ember. The sad but inevitable truth was that they were probably dead—or something worse than that at the hands of Malefor, or whoever came to replace the old bastard.

"I know, Spyro, so what have we up for today?" I asked, knowing the MIA list was getting longer with each week. Depressingly, we had been disallowing females to fight, as they seemed to be prime targets. Our population was dropping at an unacceptable rate from ambushes and traps.

"Two dozen moles and their families...What's left of them were notified. We lost three fire dragoness Healers and two Lightning Inventors," he said sadly.

I winced. The Healers were a blow we could barely stand.

"And some of us are wondering if...if we should flee this Realm," Spyro ended.

"Not a goddamn chance in hell!" Tremor growled. "We will either win or die, but we will not run."

I was inclined to agree, but doubted many others were. And I had to think of Rumbler' and Specter's little boy.

"We... We will scale back the Recon. Send smaller teams and less Healers with each," I said aloud. Inside, my stomach felt like it was tied in a knot.

"Orders will be sent, Commander," Spyro said solemnly. He was taking it hard. He had, with his mate Cynder, saved this world once before. But now…now we were just fighting to survive and, with Cynder bearing eggs, he couldn't risk himself, either. It was nerve-wracking.

"What's next?" Tremor asked, looking at the Guardians and members of each race who had been elected to the War Council. There weren't many of us left.

"Special training to as many members as possible. Advanced elemental abilities to whoever can control them," Spyro said, reading off the card. That was followed by a soft, stunned silence.

"W...What?" Cynder asked, amazed and slightly worried. So was I—as well, it seemed, as most of the council who had comprehended what was said.

"We need to pack more punch per dragon, per squad if we want to do real damage," Spyro said. "The risk is...hopefully worth the reward in the long run."

He didn't sound sure of it himself, but no one could blame him for that.

"Spyro..." Cynder began, but didn't seem to know what to say.

"It's a good idea, but one that could do irreparable harm if we screw up," I finished for her. "Not to mention... Not to mention that we assembled are the only ones who can teach them, and we're stuck here running a war."

"We would leave that to the cheetah clans and the moles for the duration of the training," Spyro said, sounding more confident. He would take Plasma training. It was a scary thought.

"Guess I'll teach Sound..." I said, wondering just what kind of monster we were unleashing upon the world with this. "Cynder, you teach Invisibility. We will need better assassins if we are to win." Another reason for me to burn. "Tremor, enhanced Earth."

They all agreed. Of course they would. I was worried. We all were.

"Well. Off to destroy the world," Tremor said. Cynder and I gave him a look.

"You were all thinking it," he said simply.


	54. Chapter 54: Sirens SCream

_I will hope to keep this pace up._

"This is the power of Sound—pure, unrelenting Sound," I said to the assembled Fear dragons and dragonesses, and let loose a scream that could turn rock to splinters. The poor target dummy did just that.

"Everything you think you know about Fear elemental energy: forget it when using Sound. It can—and if you're not careful it _will_—kill you without a moment's hesitation." I watched a few wince at the reverberating scream.

"How do we summon it?" asked a young dragoness. Against my wishes, Spyro was allowing younger dragons to train.

"When you use Fear to paralyze, even kill enemies, you get in their head and turn their mind into an enemy. With Sound, you must turn your power inward. I simply think of something, and focus on it and nothing else. A sound, a sight, something that terrifies you to your core. That is where the great and terrible power comes from," I said, and the small dragoness lowered her head.

"Sound," I continued, "is a refined power. Fear is primal. Fear is brute force. Sound shakes the target apart. You can guide it, but not force it. It will work for you, but only if you can control it through sheer force of will."

A few dragons turned pale, but others looked almost eager.

"So, who wants to go first?" I asked, hoping to not see any of my...students disintegrate today. Looking over, I could mentally count those who I believed could at least summon up this power and, out of them, less then five who could control it.

"I will," the same small dragoness walked forward. She had strange markings along her entire body, a mix of scars, patterns and tattoos. I realized, though she was young, she was a veteran to war. Another sin we would all pay for.

I offered no encouragement. She had to do it alone or she would fail, possibly fatally.

"Bring your fears to your mind's eye and embrace them. Drown in the darkest corner of your mind," I said, watching her eyes glow red then clear up, until they were nothing but crystalline. "And now release your fury."

I covered my ears.

Thunder in a bubble—that was really the only way to describe the sound. Every dragon is different. Every user's power manifests in a different way. Mine was a massive shriek. Hers was a vibrating globe of sound that flew at amazing speed towards the target, grinding the floor between her and the target into a glass-smooth trench. When it hit the target, it simply vanished. The globe of energy and the target were just gone, replaced by a sugar-fine powder that slowly drifted to the ground.

"Impressive. What's your name?" I asked the panting dragoness. She was staring wide-eyed at the now vaporized target. Her body had a sort of afterglow that most dragons only had after unleashing a Fury attack. In retrospect, she may well have done just that.

"Hope. My mother named me Hope," she said softly—or perhaps loudly, as my ears were ringing, and most likely everyone else's were as well. She was drained, that was easy to tell, and rightly so from the amount of damage she had caused.

"Well, Hope, you can control the power of sound, and well enough that you didn't kill yourself. Report to Commander Cynder and tell her what I have said."

She saluted me with her tail and left the training room. I turned back to the rest of the assembled crowd.

"Which of you thinks they can repeat this performance?"


	55. Chapter 55 Whispers in the Grave

Wraith, Shadow and Whisper—my three killers nearly as lethal as any army. Imagine my surprise when they arrived in the war room a few weeks later, bloodied and bruised. Wraith's massive wings were bent at impossible angles.

"They are coming," Whisper said quietly.

It took roughly three seconds for the room to react. Tremor and Rumbler rushed to catch Wraith, who began to fall sideways. They caught him with a thud.

"Who is coming?" Stella asked Whisper as I went to work trying to fix Wraith's wings, using quite a lot of my very diminished energy stores.

"The Dark Army. They are coming; launching an assault on Concurrent Skies," Whisper said. It was probably the longest sentence anyone here had ever heard her say. "Thousands of apes... Hundreds of dragons.

"

I paled. So did everyone else. "How long do we have?"

I had to re-break Wraith's wing—to his credit, he didn't make a sound or move as it snapped with a sickening crack.

"Sorry," I said. He only nodded.

"Boats. Enormous metal boats pulled by...by slaves," Whisper said, lowering her head.

"Okay, Wraith, that's the best I can do..." I said. His wings would hold up until he could get to a real healer. Turning to Shadow, I asked, "How are you holding up?"

He held a wing to his neck, pointing to a jagged scar that interrupted the natural camouflage of his scales. Shadow was a mute. I looked at Whisper questioningly.

"He got clawed by one of the dragons on the boat we blew up," she said, and it was a few seconds before what she said clicked.

"What boat?" Spyro asked. I could see his mind working on overdrive. Hunter had already left to assemble the Cheetah tribes and arm as many cannons as they could.

"The Scouting... Or perhaps first strike? It had nearly four hundred dragons on board. We made sure none survived. Lit its powder storage on fire… Ripped it in half…" she managed to say before her eyes rolled up and she fell flat.

"Whisper!" Cynder yelped. A moment later, I saw why. A fair-sized metal chunk had imbedded itself into the base of her head. She was dead. It was amazing she had lived, let alone moved, for this long.

"WHISPER!" Wraith roared before collapsing in a heap on the floor, Shadow had tears running down his face. They had been together forever. I could only imagine how they felt.

"Rest in peace, silent killer," Stella said. She had never approved of my decision to use spies and assassins.

"I want her body preserved," I said. Gust ran off to relay the order, while Rumbler and Tremor carried her body out solemnly.

"This war has to end," I growled, angry at myself.

"It sounds like it soon will... One way or another," Flash said. I could tell he was antsy, ready to do something. He always hated standing around.

"Flash, I want the Crystal Golems activated. Make sure that the invasion force will have to earn every inch of this island they plan to take. See if the moles have mines we can put in the water, as well." Fast as light, he was gone, preparing for war.

"Thousands?" Cynder asked Spyro. He simply nodded in response.

"We have to be ready. Move all non-fighters to the lower levels of this castle. We have a few days max before the war arrives once more on our doorstep."


	56. Chapter 56 Calm

Calm before the storm—I hate that feeling. Did then, do now.

"Gust, remember you are to follow your commander in this fight. Your job is to make it impossible to fly against us," I told my friend and gave him a hug. "Be careful, buddy."

"I will, Cole," he said, returning the hug and walking off to join his group. His armor had been repaired and shone brightly, something I didn't want in the least, as it made him look like a target. It was something that couldn't be avoided, I guess, but I still wasn't happy about it.

"Cole, ready for another ground war?" Rumbler asked as he approached. He had on some heavy armor, and there was no way in hell he would be able to fly with it.

"Noisy, but damn if it isn't strong," he said, noticing my eyes on it.

"Guess you will be fighting alongside me?" I asked him, making sure my swords were sharp as they could be. I grinned. "Remember, don't charge headlong. That's my job, buddy."

"No, not anymore it's not—not for either of us, now that we have a bigger family to protect," he said, sobering me up quite fast. "Specter is staying behind. This time she will be safe."

I couldn't disagree. They were hundreds of feet below ground with a metal fortress above them.

"Good, that's good," I said, knowing we both would rather die then lose our family again. "Cannons are ready, Golems are activated and water dragons are making the seas hell on earth. I don't see how they can even land, let alone win."

Rumbler nodded silently.

"I'll see you on the front line, buddy," I said, and left Rumbler to join his squad.

* * *

"Spyro, how are we on organizing?" I asked him, arriving in the courtyard, which was in a state of organized chaos. Moles, cheetahs and dragons were running every which way, carrying ammo, powder, armor and weapons to all parts of the castle and island.

"Look for yourself. It's chaotic, but we're getting the job done. Forward scouts confirmed at least ten ships loaded with apes and dragons, and a few boats loaded with nothing but cannons. Those will be a priority for the moles' cannons," he said, and I couldn't disagree. The last thing we needed was iron raining down on our heads.

"Ten ships loaded with warriors… Where the hell did all of them come from?" I asked, shaking my head. The horizon had been growing blacker as their mechanical ships spewed black smoke into the air, and snow that had fallen recently was full of soot, as though a volcano had erupted nearby.

"I don't know. They could have been waiting all these years, raising an army… But undetected? I just don't know," Spyro said, watching the chaos. "Also, one scout reported a very large—nearly as big as Terrador—dragon who seemed to be in charge. Either a General or a higher up. He is a main target, alongside the cannon boats."

"Yeah, makes sense. Though, we may get lucky; maybe this is their last ditch effort," I said hopefully. Luck was never on our side, but it never hurt to be hopeful.

"INCOMING!" one of the sentries screamed, as half a dozen iron balls came screaming through the air and smashed into the courtyard with deafening explosions.


	57. Chapter 57 Unexpected Allie

A constant ringing was all I could hear as I peeled myself off the ground.

"Spyro?" I called out and realized I could barely hear myself.

"This isn't good." Though it sounded to my ears as though I had merely spoken, I had probably yelled, because I could hear myself just fine. I looked up and saw the cannons on the wall firing back with their massive shots. We had been hit by what must have been huge cannon shots, because the courtyard was cratered in six places.

I felt a tap on my back and whipped around, ready to strike at the purple figure. A second later, he caught my hand with his wing and held it softly.

"Cole," he said, or so it sounded—from the way his maw was moving, he was more likely yelling. "Cole, we need to get inside now!"

Now he really was yelling. As my hearing returned, I knew why. The whistling scream was back.

"Well... Well, shit," I said, running low for the nearest entrance. Spyro was right behind me. Seconds later, the thunder returned, though this time I wasn't thrown forward by it. No, this time I was thrown by Spyro's considerably heavier body ploughing into me.

"Ooof." I grunted, hitting the ground as the purple dragon landed on top of me. "Spyro? You okay?"

He tapped my neck twice. It took me a second to decipher whether that meant 'bleeding out' or 'okay'. Turning my neck, I saw his armor was pitted from the force of the explosion, but he was mostly fine.

As the ringing subsided, I could hear almost normally once more.

"Cole, you okay, buddy?" Spyro asked, over and over. I raised my hand, thumb up.

"I'm fine. Massive headache, though, man," I said, shaking my head. "Mind getting off me?"

He rolled off sideways instantly.

"Man, your armor saved your life again, Spyro," I said, counting over a dozen pieces of metal it had caught.

"It's not the first time this armor has saved me," Spyro said, starting to unclasp it.

"What are you doing? There's probably more shells coming our way!" I yelped, resisting the urge to smack him. "Keep that damn thing on."

"Right... Sorry." He looked back at the courtyard. No more salvos followed—either that had been all they'd had, or our guns had taken theirs out.

"Targets destroyed, Commanders!" rang out, and I grinned.

Walking out, I climbed up the ladder up to one of the sentry's towers.

"How the hell did they get close enough to not be seen?" I asked her.

"Sir, they painted the boat and didn't have a smoke-maker, sir," she replied. An old soldier from before the war, it seemed.

"Good shots, all of you," I said, and climbed down. Despite the dozen explosions, it was back to business as usual in under an hour—in six, we were ready and waiting for the attacking force to show up.

We were hidden under the sand and under the ground, waiting for them to land. A few of our faster cannons had been brought closer to shell the ships before they could make land. When the ships were just over a thousand yards out, the first of hundreds of mines exploded, rocking the boat and sending up a massive jet of water nearly thirty feet tall. I smiled. We wouldn't let them get an inch closer, let alone land, easily.

Hour after hour, we watched the ships go through mine after mine before they got smart and began sending out apes to detonate them. Gruesome, but I had figured it would happen sooner or later. They made progress slightly quicker after that. The moment they were in range, though, our cannons fired with a thunderous boom, sending red-hot metal balls flying.

The water dragons lying in wait began churning up tidal waves to bash the ships, and our wind dragons created a maelstrom to prevent them from flying. But all good things must come to an end, and they did with the first ship landing. The front split open, and thousands of apes and hundreds of dragons poured out onto the beach.

There was a series of explosions and fireballs as they stepped on the moles' fire mines, incinerating half a dozen apes at best with each explosion. Now the big guns on the castle could target the enemy, and they did so with pinpoint accuracy, dropping hell on them from afar.

In a stroke of great luck, one of the ships that had sunk had been the cannon boat, which meant one less thing to worry about. The downside of the situation was that seven boats had survived and landed in quick succession. I waited, and waited, and waited.

"ATTACK!" I roared, and around them the beach came to life with elemental fury.

Firestorms erupted from some holes, and shrieks of pure Sound from others. I saw Hope's tell-tail ball of Sound create a glass trench and take out a berserker ape. The waves that had washed the boats out further were now carrying the mines back, ruining the ships' ability to leave. We had their entire force trapped on this island. Whether that was a good thing or not, I wasn't sure, but it was something.

"Second line, attack!" came the order. Out of my hole came a pure sonic shriek that sent the sand that covered me flying in all directions, shredding an ape who had been directly over me. Looking in front of me, I saw a sight no one ever wants to see—two enemy dragons glowing with power.

"Oh look, the commander," one cackled. It didn't get much further, as a cannonball hit it square and exploded, shredding them both. I looked towards the castle and saw someone give me a wave. I returned the favor and began the killing.

My swords seemed to want to kill more then I did. One dozen, two, three; I lost count. Sometimes I was fighting back to back with a dragon, sometimes a cheetah warrior was alongside me. Once I swear I saw a mole running around with firebombs, grinning and laughing like a maniac.

Battle haze, they call it. Whatever it was, it allowed me to focus on one thing: killing the enemy. I lost count of how many dragons and apes I killed. Fire dragons did sweeps overhead, but they just wouldn't stop coming. We seemed to be taking remarkably few casualties, from what I had seen, anyway. We controlled the air and that, in itself, was a massive blow to any fight. Their dragons were grounded, and ours could rain hell from above at any moment.

Slowly, hours in, they began to wane and our backups arrived, giving those in the first and second waves time to rest and get a drink. As relentless as the enemy was, we were better. At one point, a fissure opened, swallowing up a huge amount of apes before slamming shut in a fountain of blood and gore.

After my rest break, I went back to what I did best: fighting a war. If the apes were demoralized, they didn't show it and just kept coming. There was a howl—it was easy to tell whoever had made that sound was dying—and then, just like that, the apes and dragons stopped fighting. They held up their shields to defend themselves, but they didn't fight anymore.

"The Dark One is dead," came a cry from the back of their army.

A cheer roared through them, shaking the ground and rattling me to my core. Their army parted and I saw a massive—truly massive—ape with a dragon's head in his hand. I didn't recognize the dragon, but they sure did. And then it hit me. Their leader. They had killed their own leader.

The massive ape walked forward. "We want peace. This war is over."


	58. Chapter 58 Peace At long Last

Peace.

Peace? They wanted peace; it shouldn't have been surprising to us then. They were being used as cannon fodder for a great master—who, as it had turned out, hadn't been a ghost but simply an Elder who had lost it somewhere down the line.

It took weeks to clear the beaches, and half that again to disarm and disassemble all of the mines the moles had placed. As it turned out, the mole I had seen hadn't been a figment of my imagination. He was a berserker; strange, but damn effective.

We had lost less than ten of our own. Five of those weren't killed, but wounded. The apes and dragons, though, had lost hundreds—a sad and, if we would have known, avoidable fact that haunts me to this day. The massive ape never told us his name; we simply called him General. That's what he was—he called us by our ranks, we called him by his.

The weeks' long cleanup was nerve-wracking to say the very least. So long had the apes and dragons fought that no one trusted each other, but, despite the tension, no fights broke out. No one wanted to reignite the war. Everyone had seen and done enough killing to last more than a lifetime.

Specter and Rumbler were safe, Gust had suffered a nasty slash to his side but was fine after the healers had got hold of him, and Flash was Flash—which, face it, was a strain on the best of days. My adopted children, Kia and Comet, were safe, and would remain so for as long as I lived.

There was one thing that never was made clear—to this day, no one knows where the wolves went. They didn't lead the assault; they weren't even there. General simply said that they had gone and refused to speak further on it. All of the Dark Army's war machines were broken down to help rebuild.

It was decided that we would not return to where Warfang had once stood. After what had happened, no one wanted to return to that place. Too many ghosts and bad memories. So Concurrent Skies was enlarged—earth dragons ripped up the special metal that made the island, and laid it along where we needed to expand—and over the years it became so large that it nearly kissed the mainland.

Cynder's Castle still stands, a testament to the wars it has weathered. Many dragons and moles still live in it. It has become even livelier than Warfang and, after being expanded, is now just as large as the great city once was.

Rumbler and Specter stayed with us, safe now to raise their child in peace. They both put their armour away for good. It now rests in the museum that was built after the war, along with my swords, and even Spyro and Cynder's sets of armor—relics from our war; a monument to destruction, as some called it.

Wraith and Shadow lived on after Whisper's death, but neither talked to anyone—Shadow by force, Wraith by choice. Then, one day, they simply vanished. We never saw them again. No one went to look for them. If they wanted to never be found, they never would be. I still wonder if they are alive, and, if they are, what are they doing?

The Guardians seemed...defeated. With the loss of Flame and Ember, they were demoralized. We let them operate, but one by one they faded away and left us behind. Tremor and Rumbler became close friends, but the others? They simply left; said they were sorry but couldn't stay.

Comet and Kia, my children, grew up strong. I can't think of any time they were more then twelve feet from one another. They were truly inseparable, which was good as they were safe under my wing, literally and otherwise. A decade later, they are both bigger and stronger. I remember once saying that they would change over time—I was wrong. They became an odd mix of both worlds. Comet grew more streamlined and Kia more muscular. In the end, it was hard to tell them apart if it wasn't for their tattoos.

Spyro and Cynder stayed with us. Their child, a hyper little one, was the best of friends with Whisper's son. Dusk and Glass. They were so cute together, and I doubt anyone would be surprised if they chose each other down the road.

Gust stayed single—for a long time anyway. He met a nice fire dragoness—Ash was her name; they were a great couple—and they now have an egg in the nest. I wonder what it's gonna be. His father remained what he had been in Warfang: a doctor.

Flash, poor Flash. He was heartbroken when Stella left but, in his usual manner, looked on the bright side—even if I never did find out what that was. He is still single, but has made a lot of friends. We share rooms; neither of us wants to admit it, but we're both broken inside.

As for me, I spent my time helping heal and mend, training Fear dragons the finer points of Sound. And one day I just had enough. I couldn't take teaching young dragons how to kill. Not anymore. Spyro understood and shut down the sessions.

After that I...I just felt hollow; broken. I was tempted to leave many, many times. I couldn't sleep, food had no taste; I was dead inside. Then I realized what it was. My life. Only four others knew most of the story. No one knew it all, only me, and it was tearing me apart from the inside.

So, one day, I sat down and began to write. First one word, then ten, then a thousand—my life; every detail I thought was important.

That is what you are reading now. For five years, I wrote. For five years, I put all of my heart and mind onto paper. Spyro, Cynder, Specter, Rumbler, Gust, Flash—they all came to help me.

This is our story, and this is the end. Goodbye to all who have read this far. Thank you.


End file.
